The synthetic aperture radar trans- ionospheric radio propagation simulator (SAR-TIRPS)

• Published in: IET 11th International Conference on Ionospheric Radio Systems and Techniques (IRST 2009) pp. 112 - 116
• Main Authors: Rogers, N.C, Cannon, P.S
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Stevenage IET 2009
• Subjects: Electromagnetic wave propagation; Ionospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; Optical, image and video signal processing; Radar equipment, systems and applications; Radar theory; SAR images; ionospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; trans-ionospheric radio propagation simulator; phase screen model; phase coherence; parabolic equation propagation method; background total electron content; L-band; electromagnetic wave scattering; synthetic aperture radar; space radars; forward scattering; radar imaging; P-band; airborne radar
• ISBN: 1849191239; 9781849191234
• DOI: 10.1049/cp.2009.0046

Space-based synthetic aperture radars (SAR) operating below 1 GHz are subject to forward scattering by ionospheric irregularities. This limits the synthetic aperture and bandwidth over which phase coherence can be maintained. This paper describes the SAR trans-ionospheric radio propagation simulator (SAR-TIRPS), a phase screen model which simulates ionosphere-corrupted SAR images of point targets. The Parabolic Equation propagation method allows both phase and amplitude fluctuations to be modelled. Background Total Electron Content (TEC) is modelled as an additional frequency-dependent phase shift. Examples are presented of L-band and P-band SAR simulations, showing how the target image and derived quantities (sidelobe ratios along- and cross-track) vary with changing ionospheric phase spectrum parameters. SAR-TIRPS proves to be a useful tool in assessing design concepts for low-frequency space radars.