Synthetic Aperture Radar Image Formation and Processing on an MPSoC

• Published in: IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing 2022, Vol.60, p.1-14
• Main Authors: Wiehle, Stefan, Mandapati, Srikanth, Gunzel, Dominik, Breit, Helko, Balss, Ulrich
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Complexity; Computer applications; Constant false alarm rate (CFAR); Data transmission; Detection; Downlinking; End users; Extreme weather; Field programmable gate arrays; field-programmable gate array (FPGA); Ground stations; Hardware; Information processing; Information retrieval; Latency; Marine vehicles; Multiprocessing; multiprocessor system on a chip (MPSoC); onboard processing; Radar; Radar imaging; Radar polarimetry; Remote sensing; SAR (radar); Satellites; sea state detection; ship detection; Software; Software algorithms; Synthetic aperture radar; synthetic aperture radar (SAR); System on chip; Travel time; Weather
• ISSN: 0196-2892; 1558-0644
• DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2022.3167724

Satellite remote sensing acquisitions are usually processed after downlink to a ground station. The satellite travel time to the ground station adds to the total latency, increasing the time until a user can obtain the processing results. Performing the processing and information extraction onboard of the satellite can significantly reduce this time. In this study, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image formation as well as ship detection and extreme weather detection were implemented in a multiprocessor system on a chip (MPSoC). Processing steps with high computational complexity were ported to run on the programmable logic (PL), achieving significant speed-up by implementing a high degree of parallelization and pipelining as well as efficient memory accesses. Steps with lower complexity run on the processing system (PS), allowing for higher flexibility and reducing the need for resources in the PL. The achieved processing times for an area covering 375 km 2 were approximately 4 s for image formation, 16 s for ship detection, and 31 s for extreme weather detection. These developments combined with new downlink concepts for low-rate information data streams show that the provision of satellite remote sensing results to end users in less than 5 min after acquisition is possible using an adequately equipped satellite.