108

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. GE-19, NO. 2, APRIL 1981 Photogrammetric Eng., vol. 29, pp. 556-564, 1972. [27] J. A. Smith, "MRS literature survey of bi-directional reflectance," prepared for NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD by ORI Inc., 1979. [281 K. T. Kriebel, "Reflection properties of vegetated surfaces: Tables of measured spectral biconical reflectance factors," Universitaet Muenchen-Meteorologisches Instit., Wissenschaftliche Mitteilung. no. 29, 1977.

tic atmospheric models with aerosols and common absorbing gases," Solar Energy, vol. 21, pp. 361-369, 1978. [24] P. C. Shields, Elementary Linear Algebra. New York: Worth, 393 pp., 1973. [25] K. L. Coulson, "Effects of reflection properties of natural surfaces in aerial reconnaissance," Appl. Opt. vol. 5, pp. 905-917, 1966. [26] D. D. Egbert and F. T. Ulaby, "Effect of angles on reflectivity,"

Conceptual Performance of a Satellite Borne, Wide Swath Synthetic Aperture Radar

KJYO TOMIYASU,
FELLOW, IEEE

Abstract-A satellite borne synthetic aperture radar can image a wide swath in the order of 700 km with one-look 100-m resolution. If the design meets the ambiguity constraints at the far edge of the swath, the maximum swath width is independent of both radar wavelength and shape of the physical antenna aperture. The antenna pattern can be a pencil beam scanned in the elevation plane, or a fan beam formed by a long antenna. The scanning pencil beam antenna may be a phased array or multiple-feed reflector which may be more practical than a long antenna to image a wide swath. Design performance trade computations are presented involving resolution, swath width, antenna area, average transmitter power and digital data rate.

I. INTRODUCTION A SYNTHETIC aperture radar (SAR) which comprises a pulsed transmitter, an antenna, and a phase coherent receiver produces a two-dimensional image of a collapsed three-dimensional scene [1]-[3]. The SAR is borne by an aircraft or satellite, and the antenna is oriented typically at right angle (broadside) to the velocity vector. The image is in the plane defined by the radar platform velocity and radar slant range vectors. A synthetic aperture radar was successfully flown on the SEASAT satellite [4]. The antenna was 2.2 m high in the elevation plane and 10.7 m long in the azimuth plane. The radar frequency was 1275 MHz and the beamwidth was about 60 in the elevation plane and 10 in the azimuth plane.

14&1

The swath width was 100 km. For some applications such as geologic mapping, which is relatively static, a 100-km swath width is adequate. Other scenes which are dynamic, such as sea ice detection, ocean oil spill detection, hydrology and soil moisture determination, a swath much wider than 100 km is desired to shorten the revisit period with complete global coverage from a satellite. A limited area, coarse resolution, short revisit period SAR has been configured for a nutating geosynchronous satellite platform [5]. To obtain a swath wider than 100 km, for example 300 km, the SAR antenna used on SEASAT would have to be narrower in height, such as 0.7 m, and longer in length, such as 32 m, with resulting tradeoffs in azimuth resolution and/or the number of independent azimuth looks. Another approach to obtain a wide swath was proposed by Moore and first reported by Claassen [6] in 1975, and utilized an antenna beam that is scanned crosswise to the satellite ground track. (See Fig. 1.) Subsequent work has been reported by workers at the University of Kansas [7]-[10]. Multiple antenna beams to achieve wide swath coverage have also been considered by Cutrona

The scanned beam SAR configuration described in this paper is similar to that analyzed by Claassen [61 except that a spherical earth geometry is used here as was used by Lin [8]. The discussion assumes a satellite platform for the SAR, a broadside antenna beam and coarse azimuth resolution imagery. A coarse azimuth resolution requires a short length of synthetic revised December 12, 1980. This aperture, and hence, a short integration time. The permissible Manuscript received April 2, 1980; work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- number of scan beam positions is given by the ratio of the tration under Contract NAS-1-15657. The author is with General Electric, Valley Forge Space Center, time period available for scanning across the swath to the short integration time period necessary to form the synthetic array Philadelphia, PA 19101.

[11], [12].

0196-2892/81/0400-0108$00.75

1981 IEEE

TOMIYASU: SATELLITE BORNE, WIDE SWATH SAR

SAR ANTENNA

109

Fig. 1. Antenna beam footprints of elevation-plane scanned beam synthetic aperture radar.

length [13]. The amount of scan angle in the elevation plane to image the swath is the product of the number of permissible beam positions and the elevation beam width of the antenna. A wide swath favors a small antenna area, however, the area must be sufficiently large to satisfy the ambiguity constraints at maximum slant range. Finally, the antenna area exerts a dominant influence on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at maximum range. This paper describes conceptual performance trades in terms of swath width, resolution, antenna area, average power and data rate. The calculations are approximate and are intended for configurational purposes. In a paper by Claassen and Eckerman [14], the SAR imaged a wide swath with constant incidence angle. This entailed transmitting a single, wide, curved fan beam, and receiving simultaneous, multiple, contiguous pencil beams whose composite pattern matched the transmitted fan beam. The radar could map on either side of satellite ground track. A variation of this method would be to perform the transmit and receive functions with one pencil beam that would be scanned across the same arc sector. This type of conically scanned pencil beam SAR is not discussed in this paper.
II. WIDE SWATH COVERAGE

The equation becomes invalid for wide elevation-plane beamwidths and large incidence angles on a spherical earth. With the conventional broadside SAR the synthetic aperture length LSA is equal to the distance of satellite travel when the scene area is illuminated by the antenna beam of azimuthal angular width X/LA. The distance LSA = TB vSC and the scene illumination time TB is
XR (2) LA Vgt where vgt is ground track velocity. If the full length of the synthetic aperture LSA is processed to form a single focused image, the intrinsic azimuth resolution is LA /2. This is called a "one-look" image. With a modest antenna length LA, the intrinsic one-look resolution of LA /2 may exceed the requirement for some coarse resolution applications such as for

TB =

With a conventional broadside SAR, the ground swath coverage using a narrow beam antenna is governed by the slant range, incidence angle, radar wavelength, and the effective aperture dimension in the elevation plane. The other antenna dimension in the azimuth plane must be equal to or exceed that value required to satisfy the minimum antenna area Aamb criterion dictated by the range and azimuth ambiguity constraints derived from the antenna pattern, pulse repetition frequency and signal processing characteristic [15] . An equation for Aamb is given by Harger [2, p. 29, eq. (2.12)]

Aamb = C(1) where vc,cspacecraft velocity, X is radar wavelength, R is is slant range, c is light velocity and qi is the incidence angle.

8vscXR tan bi

imaging sea ice [16]-[18] and geological features [19]. For coarse resolution the synthetic aperture length required for imaging is less than LSA, and therefore time becomes available to perform other functions. In one option, the total LSA can be divided into NL lengths with each shorter length corresponding to that value required for the coarse resolution. In this manner NL images can be derived from the initial LSA with each image having an azimuth resolution of 8az = NLLAI2. These NL images can be added incoherently or superimposed to reduce "speckle" effects and improve the image interpretability in some cases [20]-[23]. The composite product is called a "multilook" image. In another option, the available time resulting from coarse resolution imagery can be utilized instead to scan the antenna beam to other directions in the elevation plane in order to increase the width of the swath to be imaged [6], [7]. This option is called scanned beam SAR and its design performance is considered in this paper. The objective of the paper is to present a conceptual performance trade and not a hardware design trade. With a scanned beam SAR the time period Tw available to scan across the swath is given by the illumination time avail-

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able from the beam geometry at the nearest slant range RN to provide contiguous mapping so that

satisfied, the swath angle in the elevation plane can be rewritten as

NsL 4 vsc RF tan OiF Aant
N

TW

X LA

RN
Vgt

o az

camb

RA

where vgt is ground track velocity. The antenna beam dwell time Td required to form the synthetic aperture is

Td

-NLI X12

_NL

=NBLA 8vcRF tan OiF

Aant

(4)

a.zVsc!RF

Td is proportional to the slant range and it is computed for operation at the farthest range RF to provide a conservative design. NL is the number of azimuth looks. The number of possible scanned beam positions NB is given by the ratio TWITd and
N

vgt RF LA /2
6az/INL LA/2

vsc RN

6azlINL

The ratio vsclvgt is slightly greater than unity, and RN/RF is slightly less than unity. In words, the potential number of beam positions is given approximately by the ratio of the quantity 6azINL to the intrinsic focused azimuth resolution LA /2. For a given value of 6azINL the product of NBLA is fixed so that a hardware design trade is indicated between LA and NB. The antenna length LA = 26az1(NBNL), so that LA assumes its longest value of 26az when NB = 1 andNL = 1. For SEASAT, NB= 1 and LA = 10.7 m, so that the radar design with aiZINL = 25 m/4 is consistent with the foregoing discussion. The coherent phase history in SEASAT could have been used to process the image for a finer azimuth resolution of 6azINL = 6.25 m (with the same 25-m ground range resolution). For the subject scanned beam SAR, it is assumed that the beam is scanned in the elevation plane and that the narrow elevation beamwidth OE is constant with scan angle which is not valid for a wide scan angle [8]. The available swath angle range Osw to map the swath is approximately NBOE, so that
_az 2 WX
NL LA L E

The incidence angle is kiF at the far edge of the swath. The angle 0sw is measured from the swath far edge towards nadir. Maximum O. occurs when Aant = Aamb. A coarse azimuth resolution with NL = 1 (one azimuth look) will permit wide swath coverage whereas NL > 1 will reduce the swath angle. It is noted that when constrained by ambiguity (Aant = Aamb), Osw is independent of wavelength. The minimum usable value of incidence angle may be dictated either by the scene to be imaged or by the degradation in range resolution. From the geometry, the projected surface (or ground) range resolution 5gr is governed by the radar slant range resolution bsr (commensurate with the radar bandwidth) through the equation 6gr = 6sr cosecant Oi. An incidence angle near zero is not usable by any SAR [3]. As for all sensors on spacecraft, the subject of reliability requires consideration. A potential low reliability component in the scanned beam SAR is the electrical network to scan the beam rapidly. Electrical scanning of pencil beams have been used in two operational satellites and will be used in another operational satellite in the near future. In the operational NIMBUS-5 satellite launched in 1972, a 19.35-GHz pencil beam for a radiometer is electrically scanned cross track through nadir [25]. In the operational NIMBUS-6 satellite launched in 1976, a 250-MHz bandwidth, 37-GHz pencil beam for a radiometer is conically scanned from left to right and forward of the spacecraft to enable measurements on the earth's surface at a constant incidence angle [26]. For the Defense Satellite Communication System-IlI (DSCS-III), soon to be launched for operational use, there are electrically controlled beam forming networks for three multiple beam lens antennas to provide selectable and commandable coverage of the earth from a geostationary satellite [27]. The downlink beams radiate 40 watts of power at X-band. These hardware examples are given to illustrate the degree of operational maturity of electrically scanned antenna beams.
III. TRANSMITTER POWER A major concern of a SAR in a satellite is the amount of dc electrical power since this has a direct relationship on the size of the solar panels. The power for the SAR can be divided simply into two parts, i.e., that required by the transmitter

Since the antenna area Aant = LALE,

NL Aant Aan?t(3 The swath angle Osw is inversely dependent on antenna area Aant but is independent of the shape of the antenna aperture. The selection of particular values of the antenna dimensions is a hardware design trade involving the values of NB and LA. An example of a SAR with NB = 18 beam positions has been reported [181, [24]. A wide swath favors a small area Aant, however, this is constrained by ambiguity considerations. Further, a small value of Aant will require greater transmitter power to achieve a given SNR. Since the minimum antenna area criterion Aamb given by (1) and computed for the far edge of the swath must always be

- 6az VAsw = N

2X

=NBLAA
=

(3)

and that for the remainder of the SAR. With different designs, the average transmitter power may vary widely but the remainder is relatively fixed. Thus, the average transmitter power is of major concern for a satellite borne SAR. The average transmitter power of a SAR depends on many parameters. The average power is independent of antenna shape but decreases rapidly by increasing At and decreasing RF. Large values of Aant and small values of RE are counter to wide swath coverage so that a performance trade is indicated. In order to maintain a given value of ground image

TOMIYASU: SATELLITE BORNE, WIDE SWATH SAR

11 1

resolution 5gr across the swath, 6sr must be varied in accordance to 6sr = 5gr sin ji, where ki is the incidence angle. There is a hardware design limit on 6sr and an operational limit on 4i which is scene dependent. If the expression for average transmitter power required for clutter scene imaging is combined with the ambiguity antenna area expression given in (1), then

rrC2kTSLS Pave = SNR 8772

where

jsrU tan2 iF

RF

(Aab2

Aantm)

SNR S/N at beam center is Boltzmann's constant k is system noise temperature is system loss factor, greater than unity Ls is slant range to far edge of swath RF is antenna efficiency is spacecraft velocity vsc x is radar wavelength is number of looks NL is slant range resolution 6sr is normalized radar cross section at incidence angle Nb is incidence angle at far edge of swath.
0

A typical value for the pulse repetition frequency, and hence the interpulse period, is required to complete the computation. A very critical parameter in a SAR is the pulse repetition frequency (PRF). To achieve high quality imagery, the PRF is typically about 30 percent higher than the minimum value required that meets the azimuth ambiguity constraint. The minimum value is given by vSCI(LA /2) which in words states that the satellite platform travel distance cannot exceed onehalf the physical antenna length between successive pulses. The typical PRF is nominally about 2.6 vsc/LA. Usually there are several pulses in transit along the round trip slant range at any instant of time. The transmit duty cycle DT in terms of Aamb is given DT = 05(1
TM) 1
_A am b 2__6

/ 2.6(A 8 A~~ant

If TM/IPP is assumed to be 0.1, then

DT = 0.45 - 0.325

Aant

amb)

PiF

If the design is ambiguity limited (Aant = Aa.mb) in a given geometry, the average power decreases with increasing radar wavelength. The transmitter peak power Ppk is related to the transmitter average power Pave and the transmit duty cycle DT by PVae = PpkDT. The duty cycle can be computed by considering 1) the pulse transit time across the antenna beam footprint, 2) a design margin to minimize the range ambiguous response [15], and 3) a time margin TM during the interpulse period (IPP). The transmit duty cycle DT is the ratio of transmit pulse duration rT to the IPP which is the reciprocal of the pulse repetition frequency (PRF)
DT = TT/IPP = TTPRF.

The sum of the transmit pulse duration TT and the receive pulse duration TR is made almost equal to IPP; some time margin TM is allowed to permit timing variations. Thus

The largest value for DT is 0.45 and this occurs when the swath is very narrow, i.e., Aant >> Aamb. For a wide swath, Aant - Aamb and DT = 0.125 so that relatively high peak powers become necessary. A given signal phase history obtained over a satellite travel distance of LSA if processed as an NL-look image will result in an image with a degraded focused azimuth resolution of NLLA/2, a smaller amount of speckle, and a narrower swath angle by a factor of NL when compared to those of a one-look image. If the radar bandwidth is adjusted so that the ground range resolution matches the processed azimuth resolution, the NL -look image will have a degraded resolution of NL6 in both coordinates, and for Pave fixed, a higher SNR by a factor Besides summing multiple images differing of NL NL slightly in azimuth angle (multi-azimuth look imaging), it is possible to sum multiple images formed by multiple radar frequency bandwidths; this is called multi-range look imaging [20] and for this type of radar the transmitter power must be increased by the multiple factor.
.

IV. DATA RATE A synthetic aperture radar can produce data at a high rate. Data from the SAR has to be either sent real-time over a comTT + TR + TM = IPP. munication link to a ground station, or recorded on-board for The receive pulse duration is longer than TT by the amount of later transmittal to ground. With digital data rates in excess time TFP required for the pulse to undergo a round trip of about 15 Mbit/s, the rate can become a problem. Since an traverse across the beam footprint; thus on-board type recorder was not available to SEASAT the raw analog radar data was sent directly to a ground station which TT + TFP TR limited SAR operation to only those regions accessible from where the ground station. On ground, the data was digitized and the rate was 107 Mbit/s. In general, a wide swath requires a high 2ROE tan data rate so that the subject of data rate becomes of interest. = The return signal received by the radar is usually recorded first and processed later to produce images of scenes. BeIf the ambiguity constraint (1) is combined with the exprescause the received signal pulse length is a fraction of the intersion for TFP, pulse period, it is assumed that signal buffering is employed Aamb to stretch out in time the data stream until it almost fills the TFP -4 vSC LE interpulse period. This technique will reduce the data rate
=

TFP

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. GE-19, NO. 2, APRIL 1981
a

FAR EDGE IS AMBIGUITY LIMITED minimum. The digital data rate is given by the product 100 INCIDENCE ANGLE AT NEAR EDGE of three quantities, namely, 1) number of range bins per pulse, 2) the number of bits per range bin, and 3) the pulse repetition frequency. The number of range bins is given by the ratio of the slant 400 range extent of the antenna beam footprint to the slant range SWATH WIDTH, KM resolution, 6sr. Since the phase of the received signal is required in addition to its amplitude, both the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) phase components are recorded. When the analog received signal is digitized, a sufficient number of bits 200 _ (BIQ) is required for each range bin to provide adequate ac400 500 600 700 800 900 curacy or fidelity. The nominal PRF is governed by ambiguity FAR EDGE GROUND RANGE, KM considerations and may vary across a wide swath. The precise Fig. 2. Ambiguity limited swath width as a function of range to the far edge of the swath. The one-look image azimuth resolution is 30 m. PRF must be such as to prevent eclipsing the receive pulses The swath width is independent of SAR wavelength. by the transmit pulses. The digital data rate DR is given approximately by

to

MINIMUM ANTENNA AREA, M2

DR 2_BIQ 8-

2_6

(Aamb\

6sr

A ant

am)

It is noted that the data rate increases with finer slant range resolution, is independent of the shape of the antenna aperture, but decreases if the area Aant =LALE is increased. If the design is ambiguity limited, the swath is widest and the data rate assumes its highest value. The value of is determined by the ground resolution 6g7 and the incidence angle at the near edge of the swath. If a wide swath is mapped by a single fan beam, the SAR would provide too fine a ground range resolution at the far edge of the swath just to meet the ground range resolution at the near edge. The data rate can be minimized by using a scanned beam SAR with variable transmit-pulse RF bandwidth and hence variable 8sr across the swath. For a given antenna area and geometry, it should be stated that AamblAant decreases at a faster rate than does 5sr towards nadir. In a 100-m resolution, 290-km swath coverage synthetic aperture radar design [18] three RF bandwidths were utilized to keep the digital data rate to below 10 Mbit/s.
6sr

I
400
500 600 700 FAR EDGE GROUND RANGE, KM
800

900

V. SIGNAL PROCESSING The principles of processing SAR signals to produce twodimensional images have been discussed in the literature [1], [2]. Optical techniques have been widely used, and recently digital techniques have been reported [28], [29]. Digital processing of SEASAT SAR data using general purpose computers has been accomplished by Jet Propulsion Laboratory [30], MacDonald Dettwiler and Assoc., Ltd. [31], [32], and probably others. In the proposed scanned beam radar, the antenna beam at any instant of time illuminates a fraction of the swath width. The beam dwell duration in this position is such as to generate the required synthetic aperture length. In this time period a sufficient number of radar signals are transmitted and received to produce an image of this illuminated area called a "patch." All of the patches across the swath are combined after processing to form an image of the full swath width. After traversing the swath, the antenna beam returns and an image is formed of the next in-track patch adjacent to the first patch. (See Fig. 1.) All of these crosstrack and in-track patches are combined to produce an image

Fig. 3. Minimum antenna area for ambiguity limited operation as a function of range to the far edge of the swath. The SAR frequency is 9375 MHz and the azimuth resolution is 30 m.

of the scene [18]. The transmitted radar signal and received signal processing and timing have to be sufficiently accurate to permit joining adjacent patches to within a fraction of the resolution dimension. Resampling of the data may be required to achieve patch alignment. A digital buffer memory is required to store all of the image data of the patches for a full swath and to read out the data to produce a single image of the full swath scene. This is, in effect, a digital mosaicing problem, and is not considered further here. VI. PERFORMANCE CALCULATIONS The preceding performance design equations were applied for specific examples to compute various geometrical and radar parameters. The principal trade involves far edge ground (access) range, swath width, antenna area, azimuth resolution and number of azimuth looks as given in (4). Because of performance degradation, a minimum value of incidence angle is

TOMIYASU: SATELLITE BORNE, WIDE SWATH SAR

100

113

10
,

w
z

z
ui

Iz

z
<
z

1.0

0.1

NUMBER OF ELEVATION BEAMS

Fig. 4. Antenna dimension options for 358-km swath from 1100-km orbit altitude.

imposed. A value of 10 has been arbitrarily set although there are instances when this value should be larger. Thus, to achieve wide swaths, it is implied that the far edge of the swath should have a large ground range and a large incidence angle, and it is at this edge where it is most difficult to satisfy the minimum antenna area ambiguity criterion. Again, because of performance degradation, a maximum value of incidence angle has been imposed. The degradation may appear as low SNR for the particular scene, or ambiguous response. An upper limit of 450 has been arbitrarily set, although there are instances when this value should be smaller. For an assumed swath far edge incidence angle, the spherical earth access ground range and the minimum antenna area are computed. All computations were made on a card-programmable TI-59 calculator. The swath angle is then calculated using (4) by assuming values for _az and NL. The swath angle is transformed into ground coordinates, and the swath width is determined. Examples of computations of these parameters were made and are presented in graphic form to indicate the performance of a coarse resolution, wide swath synthetic aperture radar. The computations involved two values of azimuth resolution, viz., 30 and 100 m, and three satellite altitudes of 700, 900 and 1 100 km.

tion. The ground ranges from the subsatellite point to the far edge of the swath were computed for several incidence angles and three satellite altitudes. (See Fig. 2.) From an altitude of 1100 km, the incidence angle is 450 when the ground range is 880 km from the subsatellite point. The minimum antenna area required to meet both the range and azimuth ambiguity constraints for this geometry is 9.07 M2. (See Fig. 3.) An ambiguity limited swath width of 358 km is attainable and this is shown in Fig. 2. For this geometry, the effect of the number of scan beams in the elevation plane on the aperture shape is illustrated in Fig. 4. With a single beam configuration, the antenna dimensions are 0.166 m high and 54.6 m long to meet the 9.07-m2 minimum aperture area. With an 18 scanned beam configuration, the antenna shape is essentially square which is regarded to be far more practical for a satellite borne synthetic aperture radar. With an incidence angle greater than 450, the ground range can be increased further, but then the antenna area must be increased to avoid ambiguity and the swath width decreases. On the other hand, if the incidence angle and ground range are both decreased, the minimum antenna size decreases and the ambiguity limited swath width increases. An arbitrary minimum incidence angle of 100 is selected at the near edge of the swath because of excessive degradation in ground range VII. COMPUTATIONS FOR 30-METER RESOLUTION resolution for a given slant range resolution. With this miniThe available swath widths under ambiguity limited opera- mum incidence angle limit, a maximum swath width of 453.5 tion were computed for one-look imaging and 30-m resolu- km is obtained from the 1100-km altitude when the far edge

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incidence angle is 34.250 and the ground range is 619 km. The antenna area for this geometry is 5.46 m2. If a swath width narrower than 453.5 km and a ground range closer than 619 km are acceptable, then the antenna area can be made larger than 5.46 m2 and the average power and data rate can be both decreased. From Fig. 2 it can be seen that the maximum swath width decreases with decreasing satellite altitude. The beam dwell or integration time Td was computed for one example. A value of 0.106 s was obtained for a one-look 30-m resolution image at the far edge of the swath where the incidence angle was 450, the surface ground range was 880 km, and the slant range was 1455 km from a 1100-km altitude orbit. The average power and data rate were computed for several incidence angles and the three satellite altitudes. The following assumptions were made: S/N = 9 dB at beam center, 3 dB at beam edge f= 9375 MHz NL = 1 look 6az = bg, =30 m Ls =6 dB
a0=
6sr

'I26
24

f2.9

22

29.60

20

18

33.60

1100 KM ALT.

ANTENNA AREA, M2
16

900
14
14

40.10

* iF

KMX|\ ~~~~~700

Ts = 728 K
0.005

12

4 <4

71 = 55% v = \/3960l.2I(H+Re), km/s H = satellite altitude, km Re = earth radius, 6378 km.

The average powers for ambiguity limited operation, look imaging and 30-m resolution are
Satellite Altitude
one-

6gr

cot2 sin /i

PiF

10

AMBIGUITY LIMIT 300 400 500 SWATH WIDTH, KM

600

700

Fig. 5. Maximum antenna area as a function of swath width with 100 near edge incidence angle, 100-m azimuth resolution, one-look image, and 9375-MHz SAR frequency. The average transmitter power and data rate are minimized.
area,

700 km

900 km
18403W
344 km
1784 W

1100 km
2263 W
358 km
2188 W

400

to 100. The use of a larger antenna area will advantageously decrease both average power and data rate. The largest antenna areas were calculated which provided specified swath widths
satisfied

edge

angle

path
save

1423 W

450

swath

326 km
1383 W

Pave

swath widths of 300, 500 and 700 km were selected for each of the three satellite altitudes of 700, 900 and 1100km. The
a

edge

incidence

angle

limit

radar frequency was 9375 MHz. The largest antenna areas as

The ambiguity-limited data rate depends only on the slant raLnge resolution, and it is 46.7 and 42.4 Mbit/s for 40 and 450 fair edge incidence angles respectively. It is assumed that 8 bits ar e required to record the amplitude and phase of the signal inLeach range resolution cell. If the number of azimuth looks is increased to NL = 4, then th[e average power values can be reduced to one-half, the beam an angle range would be reduced to one-quarter, and the daita rate would remain unchanged.
sc

VIII.

COMPUTATIONS FOR

100-in

RESOLUTION

swath

edge incidence angles are also given in the figure for other swath widths and satellite altitudes. If the satellite is in a 700-km altitude orbit, a 700-km swath cannot be imaged since the ambiguity constraint is violated at the far edge of the swath. The maximum swath width which can be imaged from this altitude is 691.5 km, and the far edge incidence angle is 54.050. If the far edge incidence angle is limited to 450 due to operational reasons, a 500-km
can

1100-km altitude, the 700-km swath has a far edge incidence angle of 44.50 and 13.03 m2 antenna is required. The far

function of swath width

are

plotted in Fig. 5. From the

Computations were performed for one-look imaging and antenna area for this swath is 11.86 m2. )O-m azimuth resolution. Images with 100-m resolution may With the antenna area optimized for each combination of ha wve utility in mapping sea ice [18] and lineaments [19]. swath and altitude the average powers were computed, and W'ith ambiguity limited operation at the far edge of the swath, a wide variation was found. As before, it is assumed that thie computed swath widths were so wide that the near edge ao = 0.005 cot2 biF. The average powers were calculated for in cidence angle became less than 100. By increasing the detection at the far edge of the swath. The computational

be imaged from the 700-km altitude. The required

TOMIYASU: SATELLITE BORNE, WIDE SWATH SAR

100-M
RESOLUTION
ONE LOOK

115

9375 MHZ = ao0 .005 COT2

0, r

of the full swath. An alignment accuracy of a fraction of the resolution dimension is required to combine the subswath images.
REFERENCES

[11 L. J. Cutrona, "Synthetic aperture radar," in Radar Handbook,

AVERAGE PO' WATT

[2] R. 0. Harger, Synthetic Aperture Radar Systems, Theory and Design. New York: Academic Press, 1970. [3] K. Tomiyasu, "Tutorial review of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) with applications to imaging of the ocean surface," Proc. IEEE, vol. 66, pp. 563-583, May 1978. [4] R. L. Jordan, "The SEASAT-A synthetic aperture radar system," IEEE J Oceanic Eng., vol. OE-5, pp. 154-164, Apr. 1980. [5] K. Tomiyasu, "Synthetic aperture radar in geosynchronous orbit," in Dig. Int. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symp. (May 15-19, 1978, Univ. Maryland), pp. 42-45. [6] J. P. Claassen, "Short study of a scanning SAR for hydrological
[7]

M. I. Skolnik, Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970, ch. 23, pp. 23.1-23.25.

[8]

[9]
SWATH WIDTH, KM

Fig. 6. Average transmitter power with optimum antenna area near edge incidence angle. function of swath width with

100

as a

[10]

shown in Fig. 6. For a 300-km swath the average [11 power of about 18.5 watts is almost independent of satellite altitude between 700 and 1100 km. With wider swaths, the [12] average power decreases with increasing altitudes. The digital data rates were computed for particular swaths and altitudes assuming the use of the optimum antenna area. [13] It was assumed that 8 bits are required to record the amplitude and phase of the signal in each range resolution cell. For a 700-km swath the digital data rate is in the vicinity of 10 [14] Mbit/s.
results
are

IX. CONCLUSIONS
The swath coverage capability of a synthetic aperture radar is proportional to its azimuth resolution and inversely proportional to the number of azimuthal looks and its antenna area. The widest swath is obtained when the geometry is ambiguity limited. In instances where the maximum obtainable swath exceeds requirement, increasing the antenna area will reduce the transmitter power and digital data rate. Performance trade computations suitable for configurational
purposes are

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niques. Images of subswath beam in each scan position

swath width, average transmitter power and digital data rate. The antenna aperture shape controls the number of beam positions in the elevation plane to cover the swath, and this is a hardware design trade factor. The processing of radar data to produce an image of a wide swath is probably best achieved by employing digital techscenes illuminated by the antenna are combined to form an image

presented involving resolution, antenna

area,

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