RADARSAT calibration operations at the Canadian Space Agency: Maintaining RADARSAT-1 performance and preparations for RADARSAT-2

This paper describes the image quality control activities performed at the Canadian Space Agency on RADARSAT-1, and presents the preparations for calibration support activities for RADARSAT-2. Radiometric calibration and image quality performance of the RADARSAT-1 SAR is monitored routinely since its commissioning in 1996, based on imagery of the Amazon and of Precision Transponders. Antenna elevation beam patterns and SAR impulse response are still maintained within initial design goals after more than 11 years. Efforts have now been undertaken for the provision of complementary validation data to support the RADARSAT-2 calibration, maintained by MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA).