TanDEM-X: First Scientific Experiments during the Commissioning Phase

Abstract

In this paper new and innovative techniques during the commissioning phase of TanDEM-X will be presented that are firstly demonstrated on a satellite platform. The focus is on the secondary goals of TanDEM-X that are assigned for the third year of the mission time life due to the tight schedule for the acquisition of the highly accu-rate global digital elevation model. Therefore, a variety of scientific experiments are planned to be performed al-ready during the commissioning phase. The first experiments are related to bistatic processing, Polarimetric SAR Interferometry, double differential SAR Interferometry, decorrelation measurements, supperresolution and veloc-ity measurements. The data quality and the results obtained will be validated and are discussed.