Dynamic Range Study of Correlators Used in Conjunction with Side-Looking Synthetic Radar Systems

A simple method is developed for predicting the dynamic range of a data processor (correlator) associated with a synthetic aperture mapping radar system. The primary source of noise in standard optical correlators is the data film base and grain noise. The primary noise in an electronic correlator (using photographic film for data storage) is phosphor noise and data film grain noise. For this study however, only film grain noise was considered. The only inputs required to predict the dynamic range are the radar system parameters, the published film granularity and one other film constant called the scattering coefficient. Although this paper is restricted to the case of photographic film associated with a synthetic aperture radar system, the techniques developed are useful for other types of transparency storage material and many other applications of film transparencies for data storage.