An incoherent simulator for the SHARAD experiment

Author

Russo, Federica ; Cutigni, Marco ; Orosei, Roberto ; Taddei, Carlo ; Seu, Roberto ; Biccari, Daniela ; Giacomoni, Emanuele ; Fuga, Oreste ; Flamini, Enrico

Author_Institution

InfoCom Dept, Univ. of Rome, Rome

fYear

2008

fDate

26-30 May 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

SHARAD (shallow radar) is a sounder and altimeter with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capability provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) as a Facility Instrument to NASApsilas 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Primary objective of this nadir-looking sounder is to map Martian surface and subsurface down to several hundred meters depth with vertical resolution of 15 m and horizontal resolution of a few hundred meters (300 m-1 Km). In this paper we are going to present an incoherent simulator for the surface echoes received from SHARAD that utilizes only geometrical projections and the operating principle of the synthetic aperture radar. Making use of a convenient model of the Martian surface, our simulator is an important instrument for discriminating subsurface echoes from clutter artifacts.

Keywords

altimeters; astronomical techniques; planetary surfaces; radar clutter; radar cross-sections; spaceborne radar; synthetic aperture radar; Martian surface mapping; SHARAD experiment; altimeter; clutter artifact; geometrical projection; nadir-looking sounder; shallow radar; surface echoes; synthetic aperture radar; Acoustic reflection; Chirp modulation; Instruments; Mars; Pulse modulation; Radar clutter; Radar detection; Radar scattering; Surface topography; Synthetic aperture radar; Mars; SAR; clutter; radar; simulator;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Radar Conference, 2008. RADAR '08. IEEE

Conference_Location

Rome

ISSN

1097-5659

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1538-0

Electronic_ISBN

1097-5659

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RADAR.2008.4720761

Filename

4720761