A Performance Estimation Methodology for DESDynI

Inhalt:
DESDynI (Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice) is one of the first tier missions recommended for implementation in the 2007 National Research Council Earth Science Decadal Survey, Earth Science Applications from Space. It is a five year mission consisting of an L-band SAR and multi-beam lidar. This mission will measure surface deformation for solid Earth and cryosphere science objectives and vegetation structure for ecosystem and carbon science. The multi-discipline science objectives place both demanding and sometimes conflicting requirements on both the radar instrument and the mission operation scenario. Assessing whether a given system configuration which consists of the radar instrument, the observing scenario and processing system is meeting all the science requirements across the various science disciplines is somewhat complex and requires the synthesis of a number of algorithms and simulation capabilities. The aim of this paper is to describe a performance assessment methodology for predicting DESDynI’s overall system performance across the three science disciplines.