System Design And Performance Analysis Of 3D-Imaging Altimeter

The 3D-imaging is one of the most active research topics in the field of remote sensing. Developed from the radar altimeter and combined the techniques of aperture synthesis and interferometry, 3D-imaging radar altimeter, which is capable of sampling high accuracy and wide swath sea surface topograghy, has been a leading system since the beginning of the development of the 3D-imaging radar. The thesis is the further development on the research of 3D-imaging radar altimeter. Topics such as the 3D-imaging theory, analysis of system errors, design of a spaceborne system, computer simulations in the system level are included. Several test results of the system is evaluated in the end of the thesis. Based on the achievements of the early researchers, the thesis summarizes the basic theory of 3D topography, focuses on the main factors which effects the accuracy, proposes methods for error detection and compensation, analyzes the calibration of radiation and antenna pattern onboard, studies the signal distortion of hardware system and the topography height errors, discusses the accuracy of height measurement. A spaceborne 3D-imaging altimeter is designed. The first simulation model of 3D-imaging altimeter is established in system level. Finally, concludes the results of open system test, flight experiment and imaging of moving targets with the prototype system. The capability of the 3D-imaging altimeter in topography, specially in sea surface is testified. Furthermore, this system can be improving or modifying to satisfy other interferometric applications.