In-Orbit Calibration Method of Beam Pointing Consistency for Distributed InSAR Satellites

Abstract

In this paper, an in-Orbit calibration method of satellite beam pointing consistency of distributed interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is proposed, which can be used in the design of distributed InSAR binary SAR system. During the in-orbit operation of distributed InSAR satellites, due to the inconsistency of dual satellite SAR beam direction and transceiver status, the working temperature environment of dual satellite SAR is inconsistent, resulting in the deviation of dual satellite SAR beam direction and the decrease of slave satellite receiving power, which leads to the problem of poor coherence of dual spaceborne SAR echo data. The implementation of this method is divided into two parts: "rough adjustment" and "fine adjustment". It can calibrate the beam pointing consistency of distributed InSAR satellites in orbit, effectively improve the coherence of dual images, and thus improve the mapping quality/accuracy of satellite system.