SFMCW Orthogonal Wave Beamforming Concept for Distributed Orbital Sounding

Studies of sea level rise, ice sheet mass loss, and other glacial processes are hindered by the sparsity of observational measurements. Orbital radar sounding of the Martian ice caps has been successfully conducted, showing the promise for orbital sounding of terrestrial glaciers for improved coverage. Concepts for terrestrial orbital radar sounders, such as the Distributed Element Beamformer Radar for Ice and Subsurface Sounding (DEBRIS) mission concept, use an array of CubeSats to obtain narrow beam patterns and reduce cross-track clutter. To loosen wireless synchronization requirements, we investigate the application of orthogonal wave beamforming to DEBRIS. We compare orthogonal wave beamforming to traditional phased arrays and investigate Sinusoidal Frequency Modulated Continuous Waves (SFMCW) as an orthogonality scheme for beamforming.