Spaceborne Spotlight SAR Interferometry With TerraSAR-X

Recently, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with 1-m resolution acquired by satellites in spotlight mode became available to the public. In this paper, we elucidate the differences between interferometric processing of strip map and of spotlight SAR data, and we outline adequate algorithms for key processing steps such as azimuth Doppler filtering. We further present first TerraSAR-X spotlight interferograms, together with an evaluation of the paraeters that are critical for interferometry. Our results indicate a very good geometric accuracy, stability, and phase fidelity of the TerraSAR-X sensor and its products. From the interferograms, we are able to determine the heights of larger buildings and millimeter-scale structural deformation in several examples. The high detail level of imaged buildings and the good temporal phase coherence of urban areas in X-band make spotlight interferometry an exciting processing technique that enables new applications such as surveying individual buildings.

[1]  Michael Eineder,et al.  The TerraSAR-X Basic Products – Format and Expected Performance , 2006 .

[2]  S. Buckreuss,et al.  The terraSAR-X satellite project , 2003, IGARSS 2003. 2003 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37477).

[3]  Fabio Rocca,et al.  The wavenumber shift in SAR interferometry , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[4]  M. Eineder,et al.  DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENTIFIC PERMANENT SCATTERER SYSTEM: MODIFICATIONS FOR MIXED ERS/ENVISAT TIME SERIES , 2004 .

[5]  Fabio Rocca,et al.  Permanent scatterers in SAR interferometry , 1999, Remote Sensing.

[6]  Alberto Moreira,et al.  Spotlight SAR data processing using the frequency scaling algorithm , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[7]  Fuk K. Li,et al.  Synthetic aperture radar interferometry , 2000, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[8]  Josef Mittermayer.  Hochauflösende Verarbeitung von Radardaten mit synthetischer Apertur , 2000 .

[9]  A. Roth,et al.  TerraSAR-X SAR products and processing algorithms , 2005, Proceedings. 2005 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2005. IGARSS '05..

[10]  Richard Bamler,et al.  Burst-mode and ScanSAR interferometry , 2002, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[11]  M. Eineder,et al.  The Development of A Scientific Permanent Scatterer System , 2003 .

[12]  Gerhard Krieger,et al.  Total zero Doppler Steering-a new method for minimizing the Doppler centroid , 2005, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.