MEO SAR: System Concepts and Analysis

Matar J, Rodriguez-Cassola M, Krieger G, Lopez-Dekker P, Moreira A (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Book Volume: 58

Pages Range: 1313-1324

Article Number: 8886691

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2019.2945875

Abstract

Existing microwave remote sensing instruments used for Earth observation face a clear tradeoff between spatial resolution and revisit times at global scales. The typical imaging capabilities of current systems range from daily observations at kilometer-scale resolutions provided by scatterometers to meter-scale resolutions at lower temporal rates (more than ten days) typical of synthetic aperture radars (SARs). A natural way to fill the gap between these two extremes is to use medium-Earth-orbit SAR (MEO-SAR) systems. MEO satellites are deployed at altitudes above the region of low Earth orbits (LEOs), ending at around 2000 km and below the geosynchronous orbits (GEOs) near 35 786 km. MEO SAR shows a clear potential to provide advantages in terms of spatial coverage, downlink visibility, and global temporal revisit times, e.g., providing moderate resolution images (some tens of meters) at daily rates. This article discusses the design tradeoffs of MEO SAR, including sensitivity and orbit selection. The use of these higher orbits opens the door to global coverage in one- to two-day revisit or continental/oceanic coverage with multidaily observations, making MEO SAR very attractive for future scientific missions with specific interferometric and polarimetric capabilities.

Authors with CRIS profile

Gerhard Krieger

Involved external institutions

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) / German Aerospace Center

Germany (DE) Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)

Netherlands (NL)

How to cite

APA:

Matar, J., Rodriguez-Cassola, M., Krieger, G., Lopez-Dekker, P., & Moreira, A. (2020). MEO SAR: System Concepts and Analysis. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 58(2), 1313-1324. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2019.2945875

MLA:

Matar, Jalal, et al. "MEO SAR: System Concepts and Analysis." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 58.2 (2020): 1313-1324.

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