Slant‐range accuracy assessment for the YaoGan 13

Abstract

YaoGan 13 (YG-13) represents the most advanced Chinese synthetic aperture radar satellite currently in use. This paper reports on experiments conducted to assess the slant-range accuracy of YG-13. Error sources in the YG-13 ranging system, such as atmospheric path delay and the internal electronic delay of the instrument were analysed. A real-time atmospheric delay correction model was established to consider both tropospheric and ionospheric delays. Six corner reflectors (CRs) were set up to ensure the accuracy of validation methods. Results showed that pixel location accuracies of up to 0.427 m standard deviation could be achieved. Furthermore, adjustment of the CRs can cause a marginal loss of ranging precision. After eliminating this error, the ranging accuracy was improved to 0.162 m. For YG-13, a single frequency GPS receiver is used and the orbital accuracy is the biggest factor restricting its slant-range accuracy. Results show that the YG-13 slant-range can achieve decimetre-level accuracy. YG-13 provides convenience in terms of access to control points and target locations that does not depend on ground equipment.