A Development of Reflector for CAL/VAL of SAR Satellite

The payload can be classified as a passive and active type. Generally radar satellite to acquire specific information through various radar images will use the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) as active type payload. the principal of SAR satellite is to receive the signal returned from certain objects and/or surfaces in order to construct an radar image. The data acquired from the satellite in its real orbit shall be needed to perform successful CAL/VAL (Calibration & Validation) because the SAR satellite have to receive the returned signal for SAR image construction. In order to do the above, the returned signal shall be related to ground targets. Especially ground target is the corner reflector (CR) for CAL/VAL. Generally the reflector has various types and shapes. Their selection can be dependent on characteristics and mission objectives of SAR satellite. In this paper, reflector focused on the optimal case and effective case has been studied and then the trihedral corner reflector under this study has been designed and its performance also analyzed.