Real time control system for a spaceborne SAR

An architecture and a reduced set realisation of a control system for a spaceborne SAR with advanced requirements and performance has been presented and the test results of the reduced set model has shown that the concept can proceed to a future full flight build utilising ASIC methods for the transmitter module controller. The realisation consists of a fast digital signal processor (DSP) as the central control able to perform instructions at 10 MIPS so providing quantisation of logic outputs at 100 ns intervals. In imaging operation the central controller runs a firmware program which is an image of that run by each remote transmitter module controller