Improved Ocean Surface Velocity Precision Using Multi-Channel SAR

This paper investigates new approaches to estimating the motion of the dynamic ocean surface using a multi-channel synthetic aperture radar (MSAR) with M phase centers arranged in an along-track configuration. The objective of this paper is to determine the processing methods that produce the finest...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing 2019-11, Vol.57 (11), p.8707-8718
Main Authors: Sletten, Mark A., Toporkov, Jakov V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Backscattering
Coherence
Covariance matrix
Data models
Image resolution
Multi-channel synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
ocean imaging
Ocean surface
Production methods
Radar
SAR (radar)
Sea measurements
Sea surface
Surface velocity
Synthetic aperture radar
Velocity
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Summary:This paper investigates new approaches to estimating the motion of the dynamic ocean surface using a multi-channel synthetic aperture radar (MSAR) with M phase centers arranged in an along-track configuration. The objective of this paper is to determine the processing methods that produce the finest velocity resolution, an issue that arises due to the finite coherence time of radar backscatter produced by the sea surface. The investigation is carried out both theoretically, using synthesized data produced from a modeled MSAR covariance matrix, as well as experimentally, using images collected with a 16-channel system. Three processing methods are considered: linear regression along with a multi-baseline phase progression, estimation of the velocity centroid, and coherent averaging of the shortest baseline interferograms. Both the theoretical and experimental results indicate that simple averaging of the shortest-baseline interferograms often produces the best velocity precision.
ISSN:0196-2892
1558-0644
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2019.2922542