Wide-swath SAR

For a conventional spaceborne SAR, the amount of ground coverage in the across-track direction is limited by fundamental SAR operating constraints as well as technological limitations. If wider swath coverage is required, then nonconventional modes of SAR operation must be considered. The general SAR swath widening problem is summarised and various wide-swath modes are described. The authors deal with conceptual performance, as opposed to technological implementation, and concentrate on systems that exploit the beam-forming versatility made possible by utilising phased-array antennas. The various options are compared with respect to overall performance and suggestions are made as to system selection given different performance requirements