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US 7,218,268 B2Granted
Self-calibrating interferometric synthetic aperture radar altimeter
AssigneeVeridian Systems
InventorNorman VandenBerg
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AssigneeVeridian Systems
InventorNorman VandenBerg
Estimating the term…
A synthetic aperture radar system uses RF bandwidth and Doppler beam sharpening principles to develop fine altitude and along-track resolutions. To achieve accurate cross-track position measurements the system and method exploit a combination of modes based on a novel antenna pattern combination. The unique arrangement of the antenna patterns allows the radar to process terrain elevation measurements in three independent modes, namely, time-delay response (TDR), amplitude monopulse (AM) and phase monopulse (PM). The additional modes address the interfering scatter problem and the calibration issues required for practical and cost effective operation. The approach also maximizes the number of terrain measurements made per look, thereby reducing the impact of errors and noise through averaging and “voting” (i.e., the comparison of measurements and discarding of “outliers”).
A method of remotely sensing terrain elevation, comprising the steps of:
In an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) system utilizing dual receive antennas, the improvement comprising:
A method of remotely sensing terrain elevation, comprising the steps of:
A multi-mode altimeter system for use on a platform that moves relative to a terrain of interest, the system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.