Non-cooperative bistatic SAR missions such as SAOCOM-CS promise to greatly enhance the science return of existing missions at a low cost.
In this study, we addressed major technological challenges associated with the implementation of such missions, such as phase calibration and tomographic focusing.
The research methodology was as follows:
1. Phase perturbations that affect SAOCOM-CS acquisitions are modeled and simulated. A novel calibration algorithm is proposed. Particular emphasis is put on perturbations that arise by the onboard clocks drift between platforms as well as ionospheric-induced phase screens.
2. the phase calibration algorithm is tested on end-to-end simulations (from RAW data up to the 3D tomographic focusing) of bistatic SAR images over synthetic scenarios, which realistically incorporate the phase perturbations into the acquired images.
3. end–to-end simulation results based on simulated SAOCOM-CS data derived from airborne campaigns over a boreal forest (BioSAR 2) and an Alpine glacier (AlpTomoSAR) are shown regarding tomographic products generation.
4. Advanced tomographic processing techniques are discussed which contemplate the peculiarities of the mission, considering polarimetric and non-polarimetric data acquisitions, scenarios and revisit times.