Abstract
Synthetic aperture radar systems operating with satellites in geosynchronous orbits (GEO-SAR) can provide a permanent coverage of wide specific areas of the Earth’s surface. As well as for primary applications in remote sensing areas such as soil moisture and deformation monitoring, the wide availability of the signal emitted by a GEO-SAR on a regional scale makes it an appealing illuminator of opportunity for bistatic radars. Different types of receiving-only devices located on or near the Earth could exploit the same signal source, noticeably already conceived for radar purposes, for applications in the framework of both military and civil surveillance. This paper provides an overview of possible parasitic applications enabled by a GEO-SAR illuminator in different operative scenarios, including aerial, ground and maritime surveillance. For each selected scenario, different receiver configurations are proposed, providing an assessment of the achievable performance with discussions about the expected potentialities and challenges. This research aims at serving as a roadmap for designing parasitic systems relying on GEO-SAR signals, and also aims at extending the net of potential users interested in investing in GEO-SAR missions.
Highlights
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging represents today one of the most powerful tools for active Earth Observation from space
Over the last few years, researchers have assessed a wide range of primary remote sensing applications for GEO-SAR missions, including earthquakes, soil moisture, snow mass monitoring and meteorology [2,10,11], arousing the interest of scientists and policymakers attracted by the unprecedented potentialities in terms of frequent revisit time
We introduce parasitic concepts based on the availability of the emitted signals on a wide area referring to three main scenarios: aerial, ground and maritime surveillance
Summary
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging represents today one of the most powerful tools for active Earth Observation from space. Spaceborne SAR instruments operate with satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), with a revisit time in the order of several days (depending on the orbit inclination and the latitude of the observed area), representing a major limitation of such sensors. Proposed in 1978 by Tomiyasu [1], the GEO-SAR concept has been studied for many years, exploring several aspects of the mission design, such as the coverage, orbit, atmospheric perturbation and impact of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Over the last few years, researchers have assessed a wide range of primary remote sensing applications for GEO-SAR missions, including earthquakes, soil moisture, snow mass monitoring and meteorology [2,10,11], arousing the interest of scientists and policymakers attracted by the unprecedented potentialities in terms of frequent revisit time.
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