NIASAR-X Low Cost SAR Development

Konferenz: EUSAR 2018 - 12th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar
04.06.2018 - 07.06.2018 in Aachen, Germany

Tagungsband: EUSAR 2018

Seiten: 5Sprache: EnglischTyp: PDF

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Autoren:
Doody, Samuel; Cohen, Martin; Marquez-Martinez, Jose (Airbus Defence & Space Ltd, UK)

Inhalt:
NIASAR-X is the latest evolution of the Airbus low phase centre count approach to low cost space SAR. It evolves the architecture of the NIASAR-S SAR payload (as used on NovaSAR) to X-Band, exploiting GaN am-plifier devices that are now available at this frequency. The central electronics makes use of the already developed NIA product, modified for use at X-Band. However, the front-end differs significantly from the NIASAR-S SAR front-end. Aluminium waveguide is employed to minimise losses. The antenna is realised as a deployable 3-panel structure. Furthermore the front-end electronics units have been integrated into a single ‘Phase Centre Electronics’ unit to minimise mass and cost. The resulting NIASAR-X SAR instrument delivers finer spatial resolution, wider access and larger swaths than NIASAR-S. This paper outlines the payload design and performance, and describes the technology developments that are under way.