Signal Processing Algorithm of Spaceborne SIMO HF-SAR for Three-Dimensional Topside Ionosphere Exploration

Ionosphere exploration is very important to improve the performance of space information systems, e.g. satellite navigation. A novel of spaceborne nadir-looking single input and multiple output (SIMO) HF-SAR is investigated, which has the capability to generate three-dimensional radar image for the topside ionospheric irregularities. The three-dimensional radar echo signal modeling is developed. The image formation algorithm for the antenna array typed SIMO HF-SAR system is proposed, based on modification of extend chirp scaling (ECS) algorithm. Computer simulation results illustrate the feasibility of new radar system and the validation of the signal processing algorithm. It has very good potential to be applied to the new generation ionospheric explorer developed in the future.