Publications Details
Ionospheric effects on a wide-bandwidth, polarimetric, space-based, synthetic-aperture radar
The earth`s ionosphere consists of an ionized plasma which will interact with any electromagnetic wave propagating through it. The interaction is particularly strong at vhf and uhf frequencies but decreases for higher microwave frequencies. These interaction effects and their relationship to the operation of a wide-bandwidth, synthetic-aperture, space-based radar are examined. Emphasis is placed on the dispersion effects and the polarimetric effects. Results show that high-resolution (wide-bandwidth) and high-quality coherent polarimetrics will be very difficult to achieve below 1 GHz.