Simplified bistatic SAR imaging with a fixed receiver and TerraSAR-X as transmitter of opportunity - first results

Abstract

This paper presents the first SAR imaging results obtained with a fixed ground-based system used in bistatic configuration having the TerraSAR-X satellite as transmitter of opportunity. The system's characteristics and signal processing flow are presented relative to the state of the art. Compared to previous works on bistatic SAR imaging where a significant amount of processing is dedicated to time/frequency synchronization between the satellite transmitter and ground receiver, we show that a bistatic SAR image with only meter-range geographic offset can be obtained using the state vectors from a monostatic image and minimal synchronization efforts consisting in acquisitions triggered by an amplitude threshold and stabilization of the local oscillator with a GPS-disciplined reference. We present the first bistatic image in ground geometry obtained over an area of Bucharest and compare it with a monostatic image refocused on the same grid.