The Demand for Satellite Attitude Error for High-Resolution Spaceborne SAR Image Quality

Abstract

Because of the prominent problem of insufficient index decomposition of satellite-earth integration indicators and attitude control demand analysis for spaceborne SAR, this paper made studies on the effect of attitude measurement error and attitude pointing error for spaceborne SAR images. The attitude error model of azimuth and range antennae was constructed. The quantitative transfer relationships, which contain the attitude measurement error model determined by azimuth Doppler parameters and the attitude pointing error model determined by ambiguity and system sensitivity, were analyzed. Theoretical analysis and simulation results are shown as follows: for the X-band SAR satellite, the attitude measurement error should be better than 0.01° for 0.5 m azimuth resolution, and the attitude pointing error should be better than 0.03°. The research results can provide theoretical support for the error allocation phase of the satellite scheme and the analysis of attitude control requirements.