US 11,719,809 B1
Synthetic aperture interferometry implementation method
Kevin R. Maschhoff, Wakefield, MA (US); and Martin F. Ryba, Acton, MA (US)
Assigned to BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Nashua, NH (US)
Filed by BAE SYSTEMS Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Nashua, NH (US)
Filed on Jun. 15, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/901,664.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 13/90 (2006.01); G01S 13/95 (2006.01); G01S 13/86 (2006.01); G01S 7/292 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 13/90 (2013.01) [G01S 13/867 (2013.01); G01S 13/955 (2013.01); G01S 7/292 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A synthetic aperture RADAR method comprising,
providing at least one transmitting low earth orbit satellite;
providing at least two receiving low earth orbit satellites;
remotely coupling the at least one transmitting low earth orbit satellite with the at least two receiving low earth orbit satellites;
flying the at least one transmitting low earth orbit satellite and the at least two receiving low earth orbit satellites in formation;
synchronizing a timing of the at least one transmitting low earth orbit satellite and the at least two receiving low earth orbit satellites;
collecting and resolving a plurality of two-dimensional intensity images via the at least two receiving low earth orbit satellites in an along-track dimension;
operating the at least two receiving low earth orbit satellites in a spotlight synthetic aperture RADAR mode;
aggregating the plurality of two-dimensional intensity images to increase a signal to noise;
collecting a plurality of cross-correlation interferograms in a cross-track dimension, formed by echoes from a precipitation field observed at each receiver when using range-resolving waveforms emitted from the at least one transmitting low earth orbit satellite; and
creating a three-dimensional precipitation field using the aggregated two-dimensional intensity images derived from the plurality of cross-correlation interferograms obtained when collecting radar echoes from a scene observed through diverse angles with spatial intensity variations in a third, or the along-track, dimension recoverable through tomographic processing.