Study about the effects on range imaging for MEOSAR induced by ionospheric irregularity

Based on the mean arrival time and temporal broadening of pulsed waves propagating through turbulent media, this study investigates the ionospheric effects induced by irregularity on medium‐earth‐orbit synthetic aperture radar (MEOSAR) range imaging quality. Considering radar signal two‐way propagating through ionosphere irregularity, an analysis model for ionospheric effects induced by irregularities on MEOSAR range imaging quality is established based on the system characteristics of MEOSAR and ionospheric irregularity parameters. The mode extends the application of pulsed waves propagating through turbulent media to the field of synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and it can be used to analyse the effects on MEOSAR induced by both background ionosphere and ionospheric irregularity. The degradation of range image quality, including deterioration of resolution and shift in the image, due to the ionospheric irregularities is analysed. It is found that the effects induced by ionospheric irregularities will be very serious when the inner and outer scales of ionospheric irregularities are small or the fluctuation is strong. Furthermore, the degradation of resolution and the shift of image will become more and more serious with the increase of SAR orbit height. The results can help to evaluate ionospheric irregularity effects on range imaging for MEOSAR and provide a foundation for the design of MEOSAR.