An optimization beam-position selection method based on genetic algorithm for Distributed Satellite-borne SAR system

How to select optimal beam positions in Distributed Satellite-borne SAR (DSS) system is a big challenge. Even the world famous innovative spaceborne radar interferometer mission - TanDEM-X system implemented by the German Space Agency has also suffered an optimized mission plan period for reduction of data acquisition time and more balanced performance. In this paper, an optimization beam-position selection method based on genetic algorithm for DSS system is proposed. The beam-position selection process is described as a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP). Many details are analysed and designed, such as genetic encoding, structure of initial population, evaluation fitness function, design of genetic operators (selection, crossover, mutation). In the end, an optimization beam-position selection was made for TanDEM-X system. Through computer simulation, the method is proved to be effective.