Interferometric performance aspects for Tandem-L

Abstract

DLR is studying a future L-band satellite mission (Tandem-L) in close cooperation with NASA/JPL (DESDynI). This mission is designed to serve a variety of applications covering Solid Earth, forests, ice, etc. through the use of several SAR techniques. We deal here with some aspects that concern Solid Earth applications and interferometry. The combination of high target coherence and the instrument large mapping capabilities calls for investigations into possible interferometric processing schemes and their associated performance. We discuss the extent of the degradations that are introduced with respect to the theoretical bounds when only multilooked interferograms between successive images are used. Improvements can be obtained by buffering a limited number of images and interferograms, depending on the decorrelation type.