Ionospheric effects on SAR at 100 MHz to 2 GHz

This paper presents an analysis with numerical examples of the ionospheric effects on a P-band (500 MHz) SAR system. The results show that the azimuthal resolution for P-band SAR at both 400 km and 600 km altitude in an average ionosphere (30 TECU, /sup 1/2//N=10%) can be seriously affected. For the range resolution at P-band, the image shift is significant, pulse broadening is negligible, and the multiple scattering effect on range resolution is also negligible. The Faraday rotation effect is very significant at P-band, but the ellipticity change is negligible, and the orientation angle change is the main contribution to the Faraday rotation.