Potential Accuracy of Estimation and Compensation of Ionospheric Errors of Radar Measurements of the Ranges of Space Objects Using Chirp Pulses

Abstract

The expression for the complex envelope of the reflected chirp pulse at the input of the radar receiver is derived taking into account the dispersion distortions in the ionosphere in the geometric optics approximation. The relations for the lower limits of the rms values of fluctuation errors of estimates of the radar range and the ionospheric correction as functions of the signal-to-noise ratio, the wavelength, and the relative deviation frequency are obtained. The possibilities of refinement of estimates of the ionospheric correction with the use of empirical models of the ionosphere are considered.