A new concept for an integrated along-track interferometric and polarimetric SAR system

Abstract

The authors propose a new concept for all along-track interferometer based on a modified polarimetric system. The key idea is the separation of the H and V antennas of a conventional polarimetric system in flight direction in order to estimate radial velocity of moving targets. The main advantage of this system implementation is the integration of the polarimetric and interferometric along-track mode in the same radar system, without, the need of additional antennas or RF-channels and without any increase in the acquisition data rate. Experimental results, using the full polarimetric E-SAR system of DLR are shown to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed concept.