Mechanisms and system design of satellite interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar altimeter

Satellite radar altimeter plays an important role in microwave remote sensing, but its performance and applications on non-ocean surfaces are constrained by its poor resolution. The along-track resolution of altimeters can be improved by the synthetic aperture technology, while the cross-track resolution can be improved by the interferometric technology. Although these two technologies are well-established in side-looking radars, relevant studies on nadir-looking radar are rather inadequate. This paper reviewed the backgrounds of the synthetic aperture altimeter and interferometric altimeter. Then the mechanisms of the INterferometric Synthetic Aperture Altimeter (INSAA) are analyzed, and a set of typical INSAA system parameters are designed, especially on the phase-wrapping problem and baseline-length issue.