This paper introduces a SAR mission concept uniquely designed for sub-daily interferometric-compatible revisits, essential for the timely monitoring of ecosystem water status in regions of significant scientific, ecological, societal, and economic value. The key concept is based on the strategic deployment of a constellation of several small satellites in short-revisit low-Earth orbits, equipped with low complexity SAR payloads to enhance efficiency and minimize overall costs. In particular, L-band SARs with decametric spatial resolution and sub-daily revisit will be considered. The paper provides an overview of the mission requirements, technical concept, scientific relevance, and acquisition potential. The analysis is based on a study conducted in the frame of an ESA Earth Explorer 12 mission proposal titled "SLAINTE" [1].

Observations of wind and ocean surface velocity vectors by along-track interferometry (ATI) with the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are not only important for direct applications but also to increase understandings of ocean upper layer mixing, air-ocean interactions, and mapping submesoscale (1-10 km) structures. An experimental bidirectional (BiDi) ATI acquisition mode of TanDEM-X observes with two squinted beams separated by an angle of approximately 13.2° in azimuth on the ground. The baseline is very short, and the along-track interferometric phase (ATI phase) of the ocean surface in the line-of-sight direction of the beams can be interpreted as a total Doppler velocity. The 2-D Doppler velocity field will thus include wind-wave detected motions. In this article, Doppler velocity fields acquired from this experimental acquisition mode are presented. The sequential retrieval of wind vector and total surface current vectors (TSCV) is demonstrated on the BiDi TanDEM-X data. The retrieval algorithm builds on existing geophysical model functions (GMFs) of normalized radar cross section (NRCS) and Doppler velocity. XMOD2 and a GMF based on the Elfouhaily ocean wave spectrum coupled with a Kirchhoff approximation (EOWS&KA) are used. The retrieved wind fields are generally consistent with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-5. While the ATI phase errors are small, the retrieved TSCV field looks promising. Acquisitions were located at sea over the tip of the Novaya Zemlya in Russia and over an area near Tromso, Norway.

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.

This paper addresses the aspects of image formation and interferometric processing in the frame of the STEREOID Earth Explorer 10 candidate mission. In particular, the large along-track baseline configuration (approx. 250 km), which results in a high Doppler centroid, will be addressed in terms of bistatic SAR image formation and interferometric processing. The proposed focusing algorithm is validated with point-target simulations, while the interferometric investigations are performed using raw data generated with a bistatic end-to-end simulator.

Ambiguities in short-baseline ATI interferometry need to be treated not as noise that lowers the coherence, but as a source of bias. A mathematical formulation of the interferometric ambiguity model is given, and an approach to correct ambiguities is proposed and illustrated with simulation results.

This paper addresses the performance in the retrieval of 3-D mean deformation maps by exploiting simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous squinted synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometric acquisitions in a repeat-pass scenario. In multisatellite or multibeam low earth observation missions, the availability of two (or more) lines of sight (LOSs) allows the simultaneous acquisition of SAR images with different squint angles, hence improving the sensitivity to the north-south component of the deformation. Due to the simultaneity of the acquisitions, the troposphere will be highly correlated and, therefore, will tend to cancel out when performing the differential measurement between the interferograms obtained with the different LOSs, hence resulting in a practically troposphere-free estimation of the along-track deformation measurement. In practice, however, the atmospheric noise in the differential measurement will increase for increasing angular separations. This paper expounds the mathematical framework to derive the performance by properly considering the correlation of the atmospheric delays between the simultaneous acquisitions. To that aim, the hybrid Cramér-Rao bound is exploited making use of the autocorrelation function of the troposphere. Some performance examples are presented in the frame of future spaceborne SAR missions at C and L band.

SESAME (SEntinel-1 SAR companion Multistatic Explorer) is a passive SAR satellite mission proposed for the ESA Earth Explorer Program. SESAME comprises two receive-only C-band SAR satellites flying in close formation to build a single-pass SAR interferometer (SP-InSAR) using the active signal of the European Sentinel-1 satellite. The SESAME mission addresses applications in geoscience and climate research that require repeat measurements of high precision elevation data over land surfaces including ice covered areas and forests, exploiting the SP-InSAR and multistatic observation geometry of the satellite formation. The objectives, the measurement approach and geo-biophysical products of the mission are described.

The contribution focuses on the technical aspects related to the focusing and interferometric processing of bistatic data acquired by companion satellite (CS) SAR missions. In particular, the processing aspects related to the large along-track baseline configuration will be addressed, for the processing needs to properly consider a potential high squint angle. The technical challenges encompass synchronization, image formation and coregistration. On the other hand, the availability of a large squint angle has some advantages in terms of the sensitivity to the north-south component of the deformation for interferometric applications. The theoretical derivations are complemented with point-target simulations and Monte-Carlo simulations.

Companion missions provide a path to add single-pass interferometric capabilities to existing monostatic SAR missions. Large baselines, only achievable through formation flying, are necessary both to achieve the required performance in many interferometric applications and to enable SAR tomography. Some of the main challenges include meeting tight formation flying requirements, often calling for multiple-companion solutions, and oscillator synchronization.

Companion SAR missions offer a cost-effective solution to enhance the added value of existing SAR satellites. In particular, they offer new possibilities to extend the observation space and provide one or several single-pass interferometric channels for the acquisitions. The paper aims to provide a description of an end-to-end performance simulation for companion SAR missions, including the evaluation of two exemplary configurations under realistic conditions and with the incorporation of the major error sources affecting these systems. A critical discussion of the results will be included of the final version of the paper drawing from the analysis relevant conclusions for the design of payload and concepts for future companion SAR missions.

This paper provides a compact overview of SESAME, a mission concept in which two receive-only small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites flying in close formation would allow single-pass interferometric observations using Sentinel-1 as transmitter.

This paper introduces the concept of a fractionated MirrorSAR which is based on a set of mutually separated transmitter and receiver satellites. As opposed to previously published bi- and multistatic SAR systems, the receiver satellites are considerably simplified, as their main functionality is reduced to a kind of microwave mirror (or space transponder) which routes the radar echoes towards the transmitter. The forwarded radar signals are then coherently demodulated within the transmitter by using the same oscillator that had been used for radar pulse generation. This avoids the necessity of a bidirectional phase synchronization link as currently employed in TanDEM-X. Since the needs for fully equipped radar receivers, on-board memory and downlink are also overcome, the weight and costs of the receiver satellites can be significantly reduced. This allows for a scaling of their number without cost explosion, thereby paving the way for novel applications like multi-baseline SAR interferometry and single-pass tomography. Several additional opportunities make the MirrorSAR concept even more attractive. First, the separation of the transmitter and receiver front-ends reduces not only RF losses by avoiding switches and circulators, but it may also lower the peak power in the transmitter satellite by employing a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) illumination. This simplifies the design of the high-power amplifier and increases its efficiency. Second, the opportunity for continuous radar data collection enables new modes for the imaging of ultra-wide swaths with very high resolution, thereby overcoming an inherent limitation of conventional monostatic SAR systems. Third, the joint availability of all receiver signals in a centralized node offers new opportunities for efficient data compression, as the multistatic radar signals from close satellite formations are characterized by a high degree of mutual redundancy. Fourth, the use of a sufficiently separated transmitter satellite can avoid the risk for mutual illumination, which challenges the design and operation of fully-active multistatic SAR systems. Further advantages arise from the scalability and reconfigurability, which support new redundancy concepts and pave at the same time the way to new modes like MIMO-SAR tomography.

This paper presents the correlating synthetic aperture radar (CoSAR) technique, a novel radar imaging concept to observe statistical properties of fast decorrelating surfaces. A CoSAR system consists of two radars with a relative motion in the along-track (cross-range) dimension. The spatial autocorrelation function of the scattered signal can be estimated by combining quasi-simultaneously received radar echoes. By virtue of the Van Cittert-Zernike theorem, estimates of this autocorrelation function for different relative positions can be processed by generating images of several properties of the scene, including the normalized radar cross section, Doppler velocities, and surface topography. Aside from the geometric performance, a central aspect of this paper is a theoretical derivation of the radiometric performance of CoSAR. The radiometric quality is proportional to the number of independent samples available for the estimation of the spatial correlation, and to the ratio between the CoSAR azimuth resolution and the real-aperture resolution. A CoSAR mission concept is provided where two geosynchronous radar satellites fly at opposing sides of a quasi-circular trajectory. Such a mission could provide bidaily images of the ocean backscatter, mean Doppler, and surface topography at resolutions on the order of 500 m over wide areas.

This paper puts forward a reverse backprojection algorithm for the moderately efficient generation of raw data of natural scenes acquired with general SAR geometries; in particular, we are interested in monostatic and bistatic geosynchronous (GSO) geometries. The backprojection algorithm has the advantage of being arbitrarily precise for all acquisition modes and systems, and allows an exact accommodation of space-variant effects introduced by topography and the propagation through the atmosphere. Its exactness allows both to simulate any real scenarios and understand further optimization potentials. The reverse backprojection algorithm is presented and analyzed in the following pages. The algorithm is also validated using both simulated clutter and data from the Sentinel-1 mission.

Correlating SAR (CoSAR) has been recently proposed as a geosynchronous remote sensing mission capable of delivering continental coverage of ocean surfaces with a high repeat cycle. The main specific measurements provided by CoSAR are estimates of the normalised radar cross section (NRCS), Doppler shifts, and surface topography with higher resolution than microwave radiometers and larger coverage than state-of-the-art LEO SAR constellations. This paper analyses the specific geometrical characteristics of CoSAR surveys and discusses the challenges of efficient CoSAR image formation approaches. The space-variance of CoSAR surveys is expected to be small, hence CoSAR image formation can benefit from the available knowledge in efficient bistatic and multistatic SAR image formation approaches.

Correlating SAR (CoSAR) is an innovative remote sensing concept which delivers large-scale coverage of ocean surfaces with a high repeat cycle. The main specific measurements provided by CoSAR are estimates of the normalised radar cross section (NRCS), Doppler shifts, and surface topography with higher resolution than microwave radiometers and larger coverage than state-of-The-Art LEO SAR constellations. This paper analyses the specific geometrical characteristics of CoSAR surveys, keeping an eye in the future development of efficient CoSAR image formation approaches. Far from being foreign to SAR, the paper will show that CoSAR image formation can benefit from the available knowledge in efficient bistatic and multistatic SAR image formation approaches.

This paper reviews advanced SAR system architectures and modes for high-resolution ultra-wide-swath SAR imaging. The comparison includes both direct radiating array antennas and reflector-based system configurations operating in either a single-Transmit multiple-receive (SIMO) or a multiple-Transmit multiple-receive (MIMO) mode.

Companion SAR missions offer a cost-effective solution to boost the performance and capabilities of existing SAR missions. With the use of companion satellites, a whole suite of coherent single-pass observations become feasible, allowing for the interferometric and tomographic exploitation of the received data. Interferometric and tomographic measurements are however very sensitive to even the slightest degradations in the phase of the received data, and impose stringent requirements on the calibration concept of the mission. Weakly-synchronised companion SAR missions may have significant residual clock errors, which challenge the attainment of this requirements. We put forward an innovative calibration concept based on autonomous (data-based) calibration at different product levels and present an estimation of the expected performance for ESA's SAOCOM/CS mission.

Companion SAR missions offer a cost-effective solution to boost the performance and capabilities of existing SAR missions. In particular, a whole suite of coherent single-pass observations become feasible, allowing for the interferometric and tomographic exploitation of the received data. Interferometric and tomographic measurements are however very sensitive to even the slightest degradations in the phase of the received data, and impose stringent requirements on the calibration concept of the mission. Weakly-synchronised companion SAR missions may have significant residual clock errors, which challenge the attainment of this requirements. We put forward an innovative calibration concept based on autonomous (data-based) calibration at different product levels and present an estimation of the expected performance for ESA's SAOCOM/CS mission.

The architecture of framework to simulate Digital Beamforming reflector-based SAR systems is presented. The mai purpose of this tool is to allow the development and evaluation of DBF processing and calibration techniques unde realistic conditions. One of the main challenges is to model the antenna patterns, including their polarimetric characteristic and topography dependencies.