Reduction of ionospheric distortions for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar with the help of image registration

Abstract

We propose a robust technique for reducing the ionospheric distortions in spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. It is based on probing the terrain on two distinct carrier frequencies. Compared to our previous work on the subject (Smith and Tsynkov 2011 SIAM J. Imaging Sciences 4 501–42), the increase in robustness is achieved by applying an area-based image registration algorithm to the two images obtained on two frequencies. This enables an accurate evaluation of the shift between the two images, which, in turn, translates into an accurate estimate of the total electron content and its along-track gradient in the ionosphere. These estimates allow one to correct the matched filter and thus improve the quality of the image. Moreover, for the analysis of SAR resolution in the current paper we take into account the Ohm conductivity in the ionosphere (in addition to its temporal dispersion), and also consider the true Kolmogorov spectrum of the ionospheric turbulence, as opposed to its approximate representation that we have used previously.