Wide-swath SAR based on networking of multiple small satellites for maritime applications

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) or multi-channel SAR can achieve the high-resolution wide-swath imaging, and staggered SAR can avoid the imaging blind zones. However, MIMO or multi-channel SAR depends on higher performance of the satellite platforms. In order to reduce the demand for satellite resources, separate the transmitter and receiver of the SAR and place them on different small satellites to form the multi-satellite network with a spacing of 3-10 km. Wide-swath SAR system based on networking of multiple small satellites for maritime applications is proposed in this paper, where the wide swath can be quickly scanned during one pulse repeated period (PRP) by the high-gain and narrow transmit beam, and all the echoes of the entire coverage can be obtained by the multi-channel receivers with low-gain and wide beam. The high SNR echoes of the different sub-swath can be reconstructed with digital beam forming (DBF) technology along the range direction. A wide-swath SAR imaging with 230-km swath and 3-m resolution based on three small satellites is provided as an example, and the corresponding simulation results have been given at last.