The technique of coherent echo processing in the approximation of a small number of point scatterers

In this paper, we aim at studying the structure of individual samples of coherent echo signals and determining signal features that permit one to detect coherent backscatter and also improve the methods of signal processing. We offer a model of the received signal in the form of a square pulse with duration of the order of the sounding pulse length and filled with a sinusoidal signal of arbitrary frequency. It is shown that this model is quite effective to interpret coherent echo signals in some cases. There are two ways of practical use of the model. One is a technique which singles out the sounding sessions in which strong coherent echo signals are distinguished against the background of other signals received by the Irkutsk incoherent scatter radar. Another is a technique of the spatial resolution improvement.