Passive bistatic SAR imaging and interferometry by satellite digital TV signal

International audienceIn this study, we used the digital television signal broadcasted by geostationary satellite for passive bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging and interferometry applications. A prototype system was designed and fabricated with commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) components. Specifically, three low noise block downconverters (LNBs) were synchronized for a long-time coherent measurement. Moreover, multiple TV channels were combined to achieve a wider frequency bandwidth to improve the range resolution. The potential applications of this ground-based radar system are SAR imaging, displacement estimation, and digital elevation model (DEM) generation. Hardware design and data processing algorithms are described. Experimental results are presented to validate the performance of the designed system and the proposed methods