Simulation of geosynchronous radar and atmospheric phase compensation constraints

Several concepts have now been published for geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar (GEO SAR). The long distance means that to achieve a satisfactory signal to noise ratio, the signal integration time may be minutes or hours. Over this period the atmosphere cannot be assumed static and phase compensation for atmospheric perturbations is needed. A simulator has been developed to quantify the performance of candidate phase compensation schemes and thus to evaluate the conditions in which GEO SAR imaging is expected to be feasible. A process to design a GEO SAR system (low inclination) compatible with the atmospheric imaging constraints is presented, along with some candidate results.