System Concepts for Bi- and Multi-Static SAR Missions

The performance and capabilities of bi- and multistatic spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are analyzed. Such systems can be optimized for a broad range of applications like frequent monitoring, wide swath imaging, single-pass cross-track interferometry, along-track interferometry, resolution enhancement or radar tomography. Further potentials arises from digital beamforming on receive, which allows to gather additional information about the direction of the scattered radar echoes. This directional information can be used to suppress interferences, to improve geometric and radiometric resolution, or to increase the unambiguous swath width. Furthermore, a coherent combination of multiple receiver signals will allow for a suppression of azimuth ambiguities. For this, a reconstruction algorithm is derived, which enables a recovery of the unambiguous Doppler spectrum also in case of non-optimum receiver aperture displacements leading to a non-uniform sampling of the SAR signal. This algorithm has also a great potential for systems relying on the displaced phase center (DPC) technique, like the high resolution wide swath (HRWS) SAR or the split antenna approach in the TerraSAR-X and Radarsat II satellites

Research progress on geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar

Based on its ability to obtain two-dimensional (2D) high-resolution images in all-time and all-weather conditions, spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has become an important remote sensing technique and the study of such systems has entered a period of vigorous development. Advanced imaging modes such as radar interferometry, tomography, and multi-static imaging, have been demonstrated. However, current in-orbit spaceborne SARs, which all operate in low Earth orbits, have relatively long revisit times ranging from several days to dozens of days, restricting their temporal sampling rate. Geosynchronous SAR (GEO SAR) is an active research area because it provides significant new capability, especially its much-improved temporal sampling. This paper reviews the research progress of GEO SAR technologies in detail. Two typical orbit schemes are presented, followed by the corresponding key issues, including system design, echo focusing, main disturbance factors, repeat-track interferometry, etc, inherent to these schemes. Both analysis and solution research of the above key issues are described. GEO SAR concepts involving multiple platforms are described, including the GEO SAR constellation, GEO-LEO/airborne/unmanned aerial vehicle bistatic SAR, and formation flying GEO SAR (FF-GEO SAR). Due to the high potential of FF-GEO SAR for three-dimensional (3D) deformation retrieval and coherence-based SAR tomography (TomoSAR), we have recently carried out some research related to FF-GEO SAR. This research, which is also discussed in this paper, includes developing a formation design method and an improved TomoSAR processing algorithm. It is found that GEO SAR will continue to be an active topic in the aspect of data processing and multi-platform concept in the near future

Beam Footprint Detection and Tracking for Non-cooperative Bistatic SAR

In non-cooperative bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the position of transmitter’s beam footprint should be detected and tracked in real-time to perform beam synchronization. Theoretical analysis shows that signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the reflected echoes from the observational scene is too low to apply the conventional detection and tracking method. According to the cross correlation and Doppler frequency information of the backscattering echo, a beam footprint detection and tracking method is proposed in this paper. This method can realize accumulation of signal energy, therefore enormously improve the performance of beam footprint detection and tracking. Meanwhile, vehicle-based bistatic SAR experiment and airborne bistatic SAR experiment are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed beam footprint detection and tracking method. Experimental results show that the proposed method performs well for real-time transmitter beam footprint detection and tracking

Analysis for Resolution of Bistatic SAR Configuration with Geosynchronous Transmitter and UAV Receiver

Bistatical SAR with geosynchronous illuminator and unmanned aerial vehicle receiver (GEO-UAV BiSAR) has significant potential advantages in the field of continuous local observation under a dangerous environment within nearly 24 h. Due to the extreme platform velocity differences, the ellipse orbital movement of GEOSAR makes this BiSAR configuration not like the conventional spaceborne BiSAR. In this paper, based on the orbital kinetic characteristic of GEOSAR, we theoretically analyze the variations of bistatic configuration effect on common azimuth coverage and coherent accumulated time. In addition, two-dimension the resolution is deduced by geometrical configuration on the basis of gradient method. The simulations show that the appropriate selection of initial bistatic configuration can restrain from the appearance of the dead zone in common coverage. And the image results are obtained by frequency domain RD based on Method of Series Reversion (MSR). It is shown that GEO-UAV BiSAR has the high resolution ability

BelSAR : the first Belgian airborne campaign for L-band, full polarimetric bistatic and interferometric SAR acquisitions over an agricultural site in Belgium

The BelSAR airborne campaign was set up to prepare for future bistatic and interferometric SAR missions. The objective was to acquire L-band, full-polarimetric signatures by two airplanes, flying in various bistatic and interferometric geometries. The scientific scope was focused on agriculture and soil humidity, and the region of interest was part of the Belgian BELAIR HESBANIA test site, located close to Gembloux. Five campaigns took place between May and September 2018. Ground devices were deployed and ground measurements were obtained simultaneously to the imaging passes. The results will be exploited in a scientific project to be initiated in 2019.BelSA

GNSS transpolar earth reflectometry exploriNg system (G-TERN): mission concept

The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Transpolar Earth Reflectometry exploriNg system (G-TERN) was proposed in response to ESA's Earth Explorer 9 revised call by a team of 33 multi-disciplinary scientists. The primary objective of the mission is to quantify at high spatio-temporal resolution crucial characteristics, processes and interactions between sea ice, and other Earth system components in order to advance the understanding and prediction of climate change and its impacts on the environment and society. The objective is articulated through three key questions. 1) In a rapidly changing Arctic regime and under the resilient Antarctic sea ice trend, how will highly dynamic forcings and couplings between the various components of the ocean, atmosphere, and cryosphere modify or influence the processes governing the characteristics of the sea ice cover (ice production, growth, deformation, and melt)? 2) What are the impacts of extreme events and feedback mechanisms on sea ice evolution? 3) What are the effects of the cryosphere behaviors, either rapidly changing or resiliently stable, on the global oceanic and atmospheric circulation and mid-latitude extreme events? To contribute answering these questions, G-TERN will measure key parameters of the sea ice, the oceans, and the atmosphere with frequent and dense coverage over polar areas, becoming a “dynamic mapper”of the ice conditions, the ice production, and the loss in multiple time and space scales, and surrounding environment. Over polar areas, the G-TERN will measure sea ice surface elevation (<;10 cm precision), roughness, and polarimetry aspects at 30-km resolution and 3-days full coverage. G-TERN will implement the interferometric GNSS reflectometry concept, from a single satellite in near-polar orbit with capability for 12 simultaneous observations. Unlike currently orbiting GNSS reflectometry missions, the G-TERN uses the full GNSS available bandwidth to improve its ranging measurements. The lifetime would be 2025-2030 or optimally 2025-2035, covering key stages of the transition toward a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer. This paper describes the mission objectives, it reviews its measurement techniques, summarizes the suggested implementation, and finally, it estimates the expected performance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Measurements of Sea Surface Currents in the Baltic Sea Region Using Spaceborne Along-Track InSAR

The main challenging problems in ocean current retrieval from along-track interferometric (ATI)-synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are phase calibration and wave bias removal. In this paper, a method based on differential InSAR (DInSAR) technique for correcting the phase offset and its variation is proposed. The wave bias removal is assessed using two different Doppler models and two different wind sources. In addition to the wind provided by an atmospheric model, the wind speed used for wave correction in this work is extracted from the calibrated SAR backscatter. This demonstrates that current retrieval from ATI-SAR can be completed independently of atmospheric models. The retrieved currents, from four TanDEM-X (TDX) acquisitions over the 6resund channel in the Baltic Sea, are compared to a regional ocean circulation model. It is shown that by applying the proposed phase correction and wave bias removal, a good agreement in spatial variation and current direction is achieved. The residual bias, between the ocean model and the current retrievals, varies between 0.013 and 0.3 m/s depending on the Doppler model and wind source used for wave correction. This paper shows that using SAR as a source of wind speed reduces the bias and root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) of the retrieved currents by 20% and 15%, respectively. Finally, the sensitivity of the sea current retrieval to Doppler model and wind errors are discussed

Imaging Formation Algorithm of the Ground and Space-Borne Hybrid BiSAR Based on Parameters Estimation from Direct Signal

This paper proposes a novel image formation algorithm for the bistatic synthetic aperture radar (BiSAR) with the configuration of a noncooperative transmitter and a stationary receiver in which the traditional imaging algorithm failed because the necessary imaging parameters cannot be estimated from the limited information from the noncooperative data provider. In the new algorithm, the essential parameters for imaging, such as squint angle, Doppler centroid, and Doppler chirp-rate, will be estimated by full exploration of the recorded direct signal (direct signal is the echo from satellite to stationary receiver directly) from the transmitter. The Doppler chirp-rate is retrieved by modeling the peak phase of direct signal as a quadratic polynomial. The Doppler centroid frequency and the squint angle can be derived from the image contrast optimization. Then the range focusing, the range cell migration correction (RCMC), and the azimuth focusing are implemented by secondary range compression (SRC) and the range cell migration, respectively. At last, the proposed algorithm is validated by imaging of the BiSAR experiment configured with china YAOGAN 10 SAR as the transmitter and the receiver platform located on a building at a height of 109 m in Jiangsu province. The experiment image with geometric correction shows good accordance with local Google images