Modelling of tropospheric delays in geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar

As a direct consequence of the orbital height, the integration time in geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar (GEO SAR) with metric or decimetric azimuth resolutions is in the order of several hundreds or even thousands of seconds. With such long integration time, the compensation of residual tropospheric propagation terms poses one of the fundamental challenges associated with GEO SAR missions. In order to better characterise the impact of the propagation errors on GEO SAR imaging, we put forward a model for the simulation of the tropospheric delay appropriate for the accurate simulation of GEO SAR surveys. The suggested model, with a deterministic background component and a random turbulent one, incorporates some of the most recent meteorological data for the characterization of the troposphere. To illustrate the relevance of the derivation, the suggested model is used for performance estimation and raw data simulation of GEO SAR raw data. Substantial conclusion on the system impulse response and the associated calibration requirements is also drawn from the analysis.

[1]  Martina Zeleňáková,et al.  Climate Change in Urban Versus Rural Areas , 2015 .

[2]  B. Haurwitz,et al.  The diurnal and semidiurnal barometric oscillations global distribution and annual variation , 1973 .

[3]  Philip Whittaker,et al.  System Design for Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Radar Missions , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[4]  T. Nilsson,et al.  GPT2: Empirical slant delay model for radio space geodetic techniques , 2013, Geophysical research letters.

[5]  Marco Schwerdt,et al.  On the Processing of Very High Resolution Spaceborne SAR Data , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[6]  Gerhard Krieger,et al.  Correlating Synthetic Aperture Radar (CoSAR) , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[7]  Richard B. Langley,et al.  UNB3m_pack: a neutral atmosphere delay package for radiometric space techniques , 2008 .

[8]  Zhipeng Liu,et al.  An Improved Frequency Domain Focusing Method in Geosynchronous SAR , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[9]  Mengdao Xing,et al.  A 2-D Space-Variant Chirp Scaling Algorithm Based on the RCM Equalization and Subband Synthesis to Process Geosynchronous SAR Data , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[10]  Robert Wood,et al.  The seasonal cycle of planetary boundary layer depth determined using COSMIC radio occultation data , 2013 .

[11]  Antoni Broquetas,et al.  Impact of Scene Decorrelation on Geosynchronous SAR Data Focusing , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[12]  R. H. Maryon,et al.  Treatment of Interfaces in Random Walk Dispersion Models , 1997 .

[13]  Rex Britter,et al.  A random walk model for dispersion in inhomogeneous turbulence in a convective boundary layer , 1989 .

[14]  Fabio Rocca,et al.  Modeling Interferogram Stacks , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[15]  Jan Askne,et al.  Estimation of tropospheric delay for microwaves from surface weather data , 1987 .

[16]  Carl E. Rasmussen,et al.  Gaussian processes for machine learning , 2005, Adaptive computation and machine learning.

[17]  Antoni Broquetas,et al.  Nearly Zero Inclination Geosynchronous SAR Mission Analysis With Long Integration Time for Earth Observation , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[18]  A. Monti Guarnieri,et al.  ARGOS: A fractioned geosynchronous SAR , 2015, Acta Astronautica.

[19]  Feng He,et al.  Modeling and Processing of Two-Dimensional Spatial-Variant Geosynchronous SAR Data , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[20]  Amit Angal,et al.  Time-Dependent Response Versus Scan Angle for MODIS Reflective Solar Bands , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[21]  H. Schuh,et al.  Short Note: A global model of pressure and temperature for geodetic applications , 2007 .

[22]  V. Mendes,et al.  Modeling the neutral-atmosphere propagation delay in radiometric space techniques , 1998 .

[23]  J. Saastamoinen.  Atmospheric Correction for the Troposphere and Stratosphere in Radio Ranging Satellites , 2013 .

[24]  K. Tomiyasu,et al.  Synthetic aperture radar in geosynchronous orbit , 1978 .

[25]  Steffen Knospe,et al.  Covariance Estimation for dInSAR Surface Deformation Measurements in the Presence of Anisotropic Atmospheric Noise , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[26]  Alberto Moreira,et al.  Estimation of tropospheric delays using synthetic aperture radar and squint diversity , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - IGARSS.

[27]  Ye Tian,et al.  Experimental Study of Ionospheric Impacts on Geosynchronous SAR Using GPS Signals , 2016, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[28]  Frank-M. Göttsche,et al.  Modelling of diurnal cycles of brightness temperature extracted from METEOSAT data , 2001 .

[29]  Helko Breit,et al.  TerraSAR-X SAR Processing and Products , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[30]  Alberto Moreira,et al.  Exact reverse backprojection for SAR raw data generation of natural scenes , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).

[31]  Cheng Hu,et al.  Performance Analysis of L-Band Geosynchronous SAR Imaging in the Presence of Ionospheric Scintillation , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[32]  I. Shapiro,et al.  Geodesy by radio interferometry: Effects of atmospheric modeling errors on estimates of baseline length , 1985 .

[33]  Robert Weber,et al.  Development of an improved empirical model for slant delays in the troposphere (GPT2w) , 2015, GPS Solutions.

[34]  R. Hanssen.  Radar Interferometry: Data Interpretation and Error Analysis , 2001 .

[35]  R. A. Silverman,et al.  Wave Propagation in a Turbulent Medium , 1961 .

[36]  A. Kolmogorov.  Dissipation of energy in the locally isotropic turbulence , 1941, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[37]  Zhen Hu,et al.  Wireless Tomography in Noisy Environments Using Machine Learning , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[38]  Antoni Broquetas,et al.  Geosynchronous SAR Focusing With Atmospheric Phase Screen Retrieval and Compensation , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[39]  H. Schuh,et al.  Troposphere mapping functions for GPS and very long baseline interferometry from European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts operational analysis data , 2006 .

[40]  J. Goudriaan,et al.  Modelling diurnal patterns of air temperature, radiation wind speed and relative humidity by equations from daily characteristics , 1996 .

[41]  Ernest K. Smith,et al.  The Constants in the Equation for Atmospheric Refractive Index at Radio Frequencies , 1953, Proceedings of the IRE.