Radiometric Performance of the TerraSAR-X Mission over More Than Ten Years of Operation

The TerraSAR-X mission, based on two satellites, has produced SAR data products of high quality for a number of scientific and commercial applications for more than ten years. To guarantee the stability and the reliability of these highly accurate SAR data products, both systems were first accuratel...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marco Schwerdt, Kersten Schmidt, Patrick Klenk, Núria Tous Ramon, Daniel Rudolf, Sebastian Raab, Klaus Weidenhaupt, Jens Reimann, Manfred Zink
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-05-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/5/754
Description
Summary:The TerraSAR-X mission, based on two satellites, has produced SAR data products of high quality for a number of scientific and commercial applications for more than ten years. To guarantee the stability and the reliability of these highly accurate SAR data products, both systems were first accurately calibrated during their respective commissioning phases and have been permanently monitored since then. Based on a short description of the methods applied, this paper focuses on the radiometric performance including the gain and phase properties of the transmit/receiver modules, the antenna pattern checked by evaluating scenes acquired over uniformly distributed targets and the radiometric stability derived from permanently deployed point targets. The outcome demonstrates the remarkable performance of both systems since their respective launch.
ISSN:2072-4292