Fading Occurrence Probability for Spaceborne Radar in Weak Plasma Scintillation

Considering a SpaceBorne Radar (SBR) for Space Situational Awareness (SSA), the Fading Occurrence Probability (FOP) is computed for fluctuating targets in weak plasma turbulence as a function of the scintillation index
$S_{4}$
. While previous works considered a Rayleigh model for both target fluctuation and plasma scintillation, this paper extends the FOP via the Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the echo power modulated by either non-fluctuating, Rayleigh, and Rice target fluctuations along with Rice plasma scintillation. Downstream physical insights on both channel and target phenomenology leading to such statistical models, numerical results corroborated by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations show that a larger value of the scintillation index
$S_{4}$
increases the FOP on echoes. In addition, the aforementioned simulation curves provide a conceptual framework to empirically estimate the scintillation index
$S_{4}$
in a monostatic radar configuration.