Agence Spatiale Europeenne

Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.a. Con Unico Socio

Fabrizio Impagnatiello

Diego Calabrese

John Julian Wilson

Peter Park

Chung-Chi Lin

A SAR imaging method for interferometric analyses is provided, including: receiving raw SAR data related to two or more SAR acquisitions of one and the same area of the earth's surface carried out by one or more synthetic aperture radars; and processing the raw SAR data to generate SAR images. For each SAR acquisition, the respective raw SAR data is processed based on two different sets of processing parameters: a first set that is the same for all the SAR acquisitions and which comprises focusing Doppler parameters computed based on physical Doppler parameters related to all the SAR acquisitions; and a second set which comprises respective radiometric equalization Doppler parameters related to the SAR acquisition and computed based on respective physical Doppler parameters related to the SAR acquisition. Processing includes: focusing the raw SAR data related to all SAR acquisitions based on the focusing Doppler parameters and, for each SAR acquisition, applying a respective radiometric equalization, based on the respective radiometric equalization Doppler parameters, to the respective SAR data to compensate for possible differences in pointing of the synthetic aperture radar(s), without degrading azimuth resolution and without introducing radiometric distortions.

SAR imaging method for interferometric analyses

A scatterometer orbiting around the earth globe comprises a single fanbeam radar antenna which is rotated around a vertical axis, at a slow rotation rate. The antenna foot-print sweeps a circular disc. The slow conical sweep combined with the motion of the satellite on which the scatterometer is mounted results in highly overlapping successive sweeps such that an image pixel is revisited many times during an overpass. The pixels in the radial direction are resolved by range-gating the radar echo. The radar operates in the C-band. The scatterometer is intended, in particular, to determine wind speed and direction over the ocean.

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Rome, Italy

Fabrizio Impagnatiello