Scattering of a narrow wave beam by a randomly rough locally diffuse surface subject to pulse illumination

We consider the scattering of a narrow pulse wave beam by a randomly rough surface with a complex local scattering indicatrix. Analytical expressions are found for the mean received power for a normal distribution of heights and slopes of the surface in two cases: where the direction to the receiver is close to the direction of mirror reflection and where the direction to the receiver is very different from the direction of mirror reflection. It is shown that in these two cases the echo pulse is very different in shape and is controlled by the parameters of the source and receiver, the sounding scheme, and the variance of heights of a rough surface. The received power is strongly dependent on the width of the local scattering indicatrix, and the form of this dependence is determined by the angles of illumination and reception. The analytical expressions for the mean received power are in good agreement with the results of numerical calculations.