A Ku-band geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Radar mission analysis with medium transmitted power and medium-sized antenna

In this paper, the feasibility of a geosynchronous satellite for Synthetic Aperture Radar applications is assessed. The nearly fixed position of geosynchronous satellites offers new features to SAR acquisition such as the continuous monitoring of wide areas with short revisit times. A monostatic dedicated mission, working with moderated antenna sizes and transmitted powers with long integration time (several hours), is firstly presented and the main SAR parameters (PRF selection, power budget, ambiguities) analyzed. The system Point Spread Function is obtained from simulated raw data showing the system spatial resolution in a realistic orbital configuration.