First bistatic spaceborne SAR experiments with TanDEM-X

Rodríguez-Cassolà, Marc; Prats, Pau; Schulze, Daniel; Tous-Ramon, Nuria; Steinbrecher, Ulrich; Marotti, Luca; Nannini, Matteo; Younis, Marwan; López-Dekker, Paco; Zink, Manfred; Reigber, Andreas; Krieger, Gerhard; Moreira, Alberto

doi:10.1109/igarss.2011.6049326

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Compared with the monostatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR), BiSAR systems can achieve many benefits, like the exploitation of additional information contained in the bistatic reflectivity of targets, an increased radar cross section, and bistatic along-track interferometry [1,2]. Unlike the conventional BiSAR, installed on aircrafts [3,4], satellites [5,6], or satellite/aircraft hybrid platforms [7,8], the spaceborne transmitter/missile-borne receiver SAR (ST/MR SAR) transmits and receives the radar signals by a transmitter on the satellite and receiver on the missile, respectively, as shown in Figure 1. As a transition platform between the satellite and the aircraft corresponding to the altitude and the velocity, the missile with great maneuvers in the ST/MR SAR system is able to provide a wider observation area than that of the aircraft and greater flexibility than that of the satellite.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and Precise Processing for Spaceborne Transmitter/Missile-Borne Receiver SAR Signals

et al. 2019

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The spaceborne transmitter/missile-borne receiver (ST/MR) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) could provide several unique advantages, such as wide coverage, unrestricted geography, a small detection probability of the missile, and forward-looking imaging. However, it is also accompanied by problems in imaging, including geometric model establishment and focusing algorithm design. In this paper, an ST/MR SAR model is first presented and then the flight-path constraint, characterized by geometric configurations, is derived. Considering the impacts brought about by the maneuvers of the missile, a non-'Stop-Go' mathematical model is devised and it can avoid the large errors introduced by the acceleration, which is neglected in the traditional model. Finally, a two-dimensional (2-D) scaling algorithm is developed to focus the ST/MR data. Without introducing any extra operations, it can greatly remove the spatial variations of the range, azimuth, and cross-coupling phases simultaneously and entirely in the 2-D hybrid domain. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and focusing approach. missile-borne SAR will inevitably bring some limitations, such as the large power antenna and high probability of being detected. Moreover, the monostatic SAR is incapable of forward-looking imaging, which seriously limits its applicability in the military field because information in the movement direction cannot be obtained directly. Compared with the monostatic missile-borne SAR, the ST/MR SAR has many advantages and they are:(1) The large-maneuver and receiving-only features of the missile-borne receiver reduce the detection probability. The corresponding anti-interference and anti-interception are greatly improved in the ST/MR SAR system. (2) The radar antenna, installed on the missile-borne platform, is used to receive the echo signals without a transmitting function, which indicates that a large power device can be avoided in the missile system to greatly save space and costs.(3) Spaceborne transmitter has the characteristics of wide coverage, unrestricted geography, net flexibility, and a high revisiting-frequency, which could provide some degrees of freedom (DOFs) in target area selection, flight trajectories, and number of missile-borne receivers. (4) By setting the transmitter and receiver on different platforms with a special style, the non-complete coupling areas between iso-range and iso-Doppler lines could be formed in front of missile, which means that the missile has the capability of forwarding-looking imaging.Note that these advantages for the ST/MR SAR also hold for other BiSAR systems, such as the spaceborne/airborne SAR and the airborne BiSAR, which are of special significance for the missiles mainly applied in the military fields. Generally, these common features of the BiSAR can avoid disadvantages inherent in the monostatic missile-borne SAR and make the ST/MR SAR a flexible and effective tool for information retrieval [11][12][13][14][15]. However, there are also a number of problems broug...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and Precise Processing for Spaceborne Transmitter/Missile-Borne Receiver SAR Signals

et al. 2019

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“…Further opportunities arise from bistatic SAR systems [2]. A prominent example is TanDEM-X, which enabled not only the acquisition of a global digital elevation model (DEM) with unprecedented accuracy and resolution, but also the demonstration of new bistatic imaging modes and techniques such as along-track interferometry for traffic and ocean monitoring, polarimetric SAR interferometry for improved vegetation characterization, super-resolution and image enhancement in range and azimuth or even coherence tomography via the combination of multiple single-pass cross-track interferograms with varying baselines [3], [4]. Additional capabilities arise from multistatic SAR systems where a set of spatially distributed receivers acquire the scattered radar echoes from multiple directions [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MirrorSAR: A fractionated space radar for bistatic, multistatic and high-resolution wide-swath SAR imaging

Krieger

Zonno

Rodríguez-Cassolà

et al. 2017

2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)

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This paper introduces the concept of a fractionated MirrorSAR which is based on a set of mutually separated transmitter and receiver satellites. As opposed to previously published bi-and multistatic SAR systems, the receiver satellites are considerably simplified, as their main functionality is reduced to a kind of microwave mirror (or space transponder) which routes the radar echoes towards the transmitter. The forwarded radar signals are then coherently demodulated within the transmitter by using the same oscillator that had been used for radar pulse generation. This avoids the necessity of a bidirectional phase synchronization link as currently employed in TanDEM-X. Since the needs for fully equipped radar receivers, on-board memory and downlink are also overcome, the weight and costs of the receiver satellites can be significantly reduced. This allows for a scaling of their number without cost explosion, thereby paving the way for novel applications like multibaseline SAR interferometry and single-pass tomography. Several additional opportunities make the MirrorSAR concept even more attractive. First, the separation of the transmitter and receiver front-ends reduces not only RF losses by avoiding switches and circulators, but it may also lower the peak power in the transmitter satellite by employing a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) illumination. This simplifies the design of the high-power amplifier and increases its efficiency. Second, the opportunity for continuous radar data collection enables new modes for the imaging of ultra-wide swaths with very high resolution, thereby overcoming an inherent limitation of conventional monostatic SAR systems. Third, the joint availability of all receiver signals in a centralized node offers new opportunities for efficient data compression, as the multistatic radar signals from close satellite formations are characterized by a high degree of mutual redundancy. Fourth, the use of a sufficiently separated transmitter satellite can avoid the risk for mutual illumination, which challenges the design and operation of fully-active multistatic SAR systems. Further advantages arise from the scalability and reconfigurability, which support new redundancy concepts and pave at the same time the way to new modes like MIMO-SAR tomography.

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A small-angle approximation for bistatic polarimetry

Dallmann

Roding

Heberling

et al. 2016

2016 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP)

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Scattering matrices recorded with bistatic polarimetric radar systems can be described using bistatic Huynen parameters. These parameters not only depend on the properties of the target, but also on the bistatic angle. Quasi-monostatic radars as well as many bistatic radars exhibit configurations limited to small bistatic angles between receiver and transmitter. Therefore it is possible to apply a small-angle approximation to some of the Huynen parameters. In this paper the impact of this approximation on scattering matrices is investigated and the consequences of the approximation are discussed. From the discussion follows that for small bistatic angles the scattering matrix can be interpreted and handled like a monostatic scattering matrix apart from a perturbation along its antidiagonal. The findings are supported by simulation results.

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First bistatic spaceborne SAR experiments with TanDEM-X

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Modeling and Precise Processing for Spaceborne Transmitter/Missile-Borne Receiver SAR Signals

Modeling and Precise Processing for Spaceborne Transmitter/Missile-Borne Receiver SAR Signals

MirrorSAR: A fractionated space radar for bistatic, multistatic and high-resolution wide-swath SAR imaging

A small-angle approximation for bistatic polarimetry

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