Effects of Plasma Sheath on Parameter Estimations of Linear Frequency Modulation Pulse Signal

A space vehicle traveling in the atmosphere at hypersonic speed is enveloped by a time-varying plasma sheath, and the performance of onboard radar reconnaissance system will be significantly interrupted. Plasma sheath would generate parasitic modulations of the amplitude and phase of radar signals. Therefore, based on the transmission coefficient of radar wave in time-varying plasma sheath, the Wigner–Hough transform and autocorrelation time-domain signal detection method are used to estimate the frequency- and time-domain parameters of the linear frequency modulation (LFM) pulse signal statistically. A variation rule of the estimation errors of signal parameters is established under various plasma characteristics parameter and frequency and bandwidth of LFM waves. The critical signal-to-noise ratio that is the threshold value for failure of signal parameter estimation has been accurately obtained for different electron densities and radar frequencies. The calculation results could provide useful information for onboard electronic reconnaissance system in further applications.