TanDEM-X: A radar interferometer with two formation-flying satellites |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong;2. State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, PR China;3. Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, PR China;4. Survey and Mapping Office, Lands Department, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong;5. Satellite Surveying and Mapping Application Center, The National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, Beijing, PR China;1. Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcka 129, Praha - Suchdol, 165 00, Czech Republic;2. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA;3. Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Zamek 1, CZ-252 43, Pruhonice, Czech Republic;1. School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;2. Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF), German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Weßling, Germany;3. State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China;4. College of Geographic and Biologic Information, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China |
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| Abstract: | TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements) is an innovative formation-flying radar mission that opens a new era in spaceborne radar remote sensing. The primary objective is the acquisition of a global digital elevation model (DEM) with unprecedented accuracy (12 m horizontal resolution and 2 m relative height accuracy). This goal is achieved by extending the TerraSAR-X synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mission by a second, TerraSAR-X like satellite (TDX) flying in close formation with TerraSAR-X (TSX). Both satellites form together a large single-pass SAR interferometer with the opportunity for flexible baseline selection. This enables the acquisition of highly accurate cross-track interferograms without the inherent accuracy limitations imposed by repeat-pass interferometry due to temporal decorrelation and atmospheric disturbances. Besides the primary goal of the mission, several secondary mission objectives based on along-track interferometry as well as new bistatic and multistatic SAR techniques have been defined, representing an important and innovative asset of the TanDEM-X mission. TanDEM-X is implemented in the framework of a public–private partnership between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and EADS Astrium GmbH. The TanDEM-X satellite was successfully launched in June 2010 and the mission started its operational data acquisition in December 2010. This paper provides an overview of the TanDEM-X mission and summarizes its actual status and performance. Furthermore, results from several scientific radar experiments are presented that show the great potential of future formation-flying interferometric SAR missions to serve novel remote sensing applications. |
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| Keywords: | Remote sensing Formation flying Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Interferometry Digital elevation model Earth observation |
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