| Title | Maintaining RADARS AT-1 image quality performance in extended mission |
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| Author | Cote, S; Srivastava, S K; Le Dantec, P; Hawkins, R K |
| Source | RAST 2005 - Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies; vol. 2005, 1512653, 2005 p. 678-683, https://doi.org/10.1109/RAST.2005.1512653 |
| Year | 2005 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20181826 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| Meeting | RAST 2005 - 2nd International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies; Istanbul; TR; June 9-11, 2005 |
| Document | book |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Subjects | geophysics; remote sensing |
| Program | Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Divsion |
| Abstract | This paper discusses the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) calibration and image quality monitoring of RADARSAT-1 in its extended mission, as evolved from the earlier phases of the calibration plan, after
its launch in 1995 and the start its routine operation in 1996. Since the early qualification period of the mission, both single beams and ScanSAR operating modes are monitored routinely, based on Amazon Rainforest images for radiometric calibration
performance, and on images of Precision Transponders for image quality performance. After an initial calibration phase, radiometric monitoring showed changes in the characteristics of several previously calibrated elevation antenna patterns and
compensation for these changes were, and are still made in the image processor. In addition, a major upgrade of the ScanSAR processor completed at the Canadian Data Processing Facility (CDPF) in 2002 provided significant improvements in image quality
and radiometry. Through the five-year nominal mission which ended in 2001 and the four years of the current extended mission, radiometrically and geometrically calibrated imagery products were continuously provided to worldwide users. In late October
2000 however, concerns began to rise of the possibility of failure of the Horizon Scanner 1 (HS1), which would result in operating the spacecraft in a degraded attitude control mode, compared to the current primary operation. Experiments were
conducted to better understand the impact on image quality when operating in backup attitude control mode. In mid 2002, aging considerations for the On-Board Recorder also led to survey natural sites within Canadian data reception masks for their
potential to support radiometric analyses, as an alternative to the Amazon Rainforest, where images are recorded. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 312181 |
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