Development of the ERS-1 active radar calibration unit
Abstract
This paper describes the development of a microwave active radar calibration unit (ARC) used as a groun calibration reference standard for the European Remote Sensing Satellite ERS-1 imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar. Three such units are placed across the radar swath giving point target returns with a known signal strength and are used to calibrate the radar image. The units have been designed for maximum stability with temperature (less than 0.1 dB over the temperature range of -15 C to +35 C); for absolute calibration the ARC is referenced to a flat plane using a novel technique of multiple transmission in its self-calibration mode, achieving an absolute calibration error of less than 0.14 dB.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory Techniques
- Pub Date:
- June 1992
- DOI:
- 10.1109/22.141336
- Bibcode:
- 1992ITMTT..40.1063J
- Keywords:
-
- Calibrating;
- Ers-1 (Esa Satellite);
- Microwave Equipment;
- Synthetic Aperture Radar;
- Imaging Radar;
- Performance Tests;
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering