Ionospheric Scintillation Effects on a Space-Based, Foliage Penetration, Ground Moving Target Indication Radar

Abstract

This report provides the results of a brief study of the possible effects of ionospheric scintillation on a space-based, foliage-penetration (FOPEN), ground moving-target indication (GMTI) radar operating in the ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) band. The results of publicly available data and analyses are applied to a specific strawman FOPEN space-based radar (SBR) system operating from low-Earth orbit. Performance degradations due to ionospheric scintillation and a combination of ionospheric scintillation and internal clutter motion caused by wind are calculated for a 3 m/s target minimum detectable velocity (MDV) at 15-deg grazing, point parameters felt to be minimally acceptable for an operational system. Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is used to provide the clutter rejection necessary for successful performance. Implications of ionospheric scintillation for synthetic aperture-based GMTI processing are also discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA407771

Entities

People

  • M. T. Tuley
  • R. J. Sullivan
  • T. C. Miller

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Bandwidth
  • Detection
  • Earth Orbits
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • Ground Moving Target Indicators
  • Ionospheric Scintillation
  • L Band
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Military Research
  • Moving Targets
  • Radar
  • Radio Frequency
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar
  • Ultrahigh Frequency
  • Very High Frequency

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Radar Systems Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects