Hardware Methods for Determination of the Characteristics of Incoherent Scatter Signals in Radar Remote Sensing

The results of the generalization and modification of the structure of radar equipment and ionospheric sounding procedures are given. It is proposed to use optimal variants of sounding signals that are maximally compatible with the characteristics of the ionospheric plasma at different altitudes. The procedures of determination of the statistical characteristics of the incoherent scatter signal in the modes of radiation of a long sounding pulse, composite two-element and three-element pulses, and a sequence of double pulses were analyzed. A radiation mode is proposed when using elements of a composite pulse signal with different directions of the circular radio wave polarization. Cases of using specialized multi-channel and programmable correlators in radar processing systems for calculating autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions of the scatter signal are considered.