Engineering studies related to geodetic and oceanographic remote sensing using short pulse techniques

Abstract

For the Skylab S-193 radar altimeter, data processing flow charts and identification of calibration requirements and problem areas for defined S-193 altimeter experiments are presented. An analysis and simulation of the relationship between one particular S-193 measurement and the parameter of interest for determining the sea surface scattering cross-section are considered. For the GEOS-C radar altimeter, results are presented for system analyses pertaining to signal-to-noise ratio, pulse compression threshold behavior, altimeter measurement variance characteristics, desirability of onboard averaging, tracker bandwidth considerations, and statistical character of the altimeter data in relation to harmonic analysis properties of the geodetic signal.