Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) compensating for ionospheric distortion based upon measurement of the Faraday rotation, and associated methods

摘要

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for a moveable platform includes an antenna, a radar transmitter and radar receiver cooperating with the antenna. A radar processor is connected to the radar transmitter and radar receiver to account for the Faraday rotation introduced by propagation through the ionosphere by estimating an individual ionospheric distortion for each received echo pulse based upon a measured Faraday rotation, and reducing the ionospheric distortion for each received echo pulse based upon the estimated individual ionospheric distortion associated therewith for providing a compensated echo pulse.