Feasibility study of using small satellite synthetic aperture radar for global 3D imaging

This paper deals with the feasibility study of using small satellite constellation to perform Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) global 3D imaging. A scheme in which three exactly identical small satellites make up a constellation is given. Two of them flying along parallel orbits with a little different ascending nodes observe the same area and make interferometry without any time decorrelation. The third flies along another orbit with a certain angular separation behind the two satellites, and observes the same area in a short revisit time. These three satellites together can form differential interferometry, which is of great benefit to observe surface changes with short time baseline. Simulation is conducted in this paper to perform a mission study. The results show the potentiality of the system for accurate global three-dimensional measurements.