Optimal Attitude Maneuvering Analyses for Imaging at Squint Staring and Sliding Spotlight Modes of SAR Satellite

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed the imaging maneuver time, retargeting maneuver time, and attitude maneuvering characteristics in the imaging section (Phase 1) and retargeting maneuver section (Phase 2) when taking multiple-target images in squint spotlight mode in a single pass of a passive SAR satellite. In particular, the synthetic aperture time and attitude maneuvering characteristics in the staring and sliding spotlight modes that can image the wider swath width while maintaining high resolution were compared and analyzed. In the sliding spotlight mode, the rotation center was located below the ground surface when the satellite was maneuvering towards the target. Steering and sliding maneuvers were performed when targeting, and the synthetic aperture time of the sliding spotlight was longer than that of the staring spotlight because overlapping imaging was performed on the point target. The satellite maneuvering during imaging can be considered as a time-fixed problem, because it was performed within synthetic aperture time according to resolution, incidence angle, swath width, etc., by minimizing the Doppler centroid variation. In order to optimize the retargeting maneuver time, an optimal analysis of the attitude maneuvering was carried out and the validity of the optimal analysis algorithm was confirmed. Finally, the scenario was analyzed by assuming a problem of imaging four targets with 5 × 5 km swath width in a 20 km × 20 km densely populated area. It was confirmed that if a squint angle of ±12 degrees is provided in a single pass, four high resolution images of 5 km × 5 km can be imaged in the sliding spotlight mode.