New Aspects of Very High-Resolution Spaceborne SAR Image Formation

This contribution addresses several important aspects that need to be considered for the processing of spaceborne SAR data with a resolution in the decimeter range (at X-band). In particular, it will be shown how the motion of the satellite during the transmission/reception of the chirp signal and the effect of the troposphere deteriorate the impulse response function if not properly considered. Further aspects that have been investigated include the curved orbit, the azimuth variance and the topography dependence. The focusing methodology is validated using simulated point targets and real data acquired by the TerraSAR-X satellite in the staring spotlight mode.