Validation of a Pseudospectral Time-Domain (PSTD) Planetary Radar Sounding Simulator With SHARAD Radar Sounding Data

Abstract

In a recent study, a 2-D pseudospectral time-domain (PSTD) full-wave simulator was developed and demonstrated to be capable of efficiently solving large-scale low-frequency (e.g., HF) electromagnetic scattering problems, for example, on the application of radar sounding simulations of planetary clutter and subsurfaces. In this article, the 2-D PSTD simulator is applied to simulate a domain as large as 4000 λ (along-track) ×1666.67λ (cross-track) ×33.33λ (depth) with λ=15 m at an HF frequency of 20 MHz. To accomplish the goal, the simulator is further improved to efficiently model/simulate large cross-track slices of dielectric scenes by allowing nonuniform grid sampling in horizontal (lateral) and vertical directions, and the cross-track results are then stitched together along the track to form the simulated radargram. By combining the SHAllow RADar (SHARAD) viewing geometry and Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter (MOLA) digital elevation model (DEM), we simulate SHARAD returns at three different sites on Mars: one at the North Pole and two at Oxia Planum. At all three sites, the PSTD simulated radargrams are compared with measured SHARAD radargrams. Through power-level calibration and reference time adjustment, the PSTD simulated power estimates are further validated by comparing with real power observations from SHARAD with a 5-dB uncertainty and Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.3–0.4 (a p -value on the order of 10⁻⁹), which justifies the use of the 2-D PSTD simulator for emulating surface clutter in planetary radar sounding. This simulator is open source and can be easily modified to support radar sounding simulations in support of other planetary missions with radar sounding instruments.