Innovative SAR Acquisition Techniques in CSG: Concepts and results

Abstract:
Thanks to technical innovations the new SAR (Synthetic Aperture RADAR) systems can improve their performance. In particular, the well-known constraint relating SAR image resolution to swath has been analyzed in literature and several ways have been proposed and implemented to offer simultaneously high resolution and wide swath products. The paper will present the main techniques to overcome these constraints, such as space sharing, time sharing and angular sharing. Starting from these logics, new solution have been introduced in the CSG (COSMO-SkyMED di Seconda Generazione) system in terms of innovative techniques improving the portfolio of CSG system modes performance, size, flexibility and available information. CSG FM#3 and FM#4 will offer a new solution (Thales patent pending) thanks to the combined use of angular sharing and time sharing, called DIstributed Sparse Sampling for SAR Strip (DI4S). The key aspects of DI4S mode are described in this paper, as well as the main results already obtained with the non-standard acquisitions of the in orbit CSG PFM and FM#2 satellites.