Pre-Flight SAOCOM-1A SAR Performance Assessment by Outdoor Campaign

Pre-Flight SAOCOM-1A SAR Performance Assessment by Outdoor Campaign

Davide Giudici, Andrea Monti-Guarnieri, Juan Pablo Cuesta Gonzalez

In the present paper, we describe the design, execution, and the results of an outdoor experimental campaign involving the Engineering Model of the first of the two Argentinean L-band Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs) of the Satélite Argentino de Observación con Microondas (SAOCOM) mission, SAOCOM-1A. The experiment’s main objectives were to test the end-to-end SAR operation and to assess the instrument amplitude and phase stability as well as the far-field antenna pattern, through the illumination of a moving target placed several kilometers away from the SAR. The campaign was carried out in Bariloche, Argentina, during June 2016. The experiment was successful, demonstrating an end-to-end readiness of the SAOCOM-SAR functionality in realistic conditions. The results showed an excellent SAR signal quality in terms of amplitude and phase stability.

2017

SAR, pre-flight testing, SAR performance

DOI: 10.3390/rs9070729

Remote Sensing

MDPI AG

Science

EN