Abstract As small satellites are finding increased applicability in a number of space missions, the community is actively exploring the feasibility of missions employing active instruments on small spacecraft. In particular, synthetic aperture radars are of interest as they prove to be versatile tools for Earth Observation purposes. This paper proposes a trade space exploration model to identify designs for space-borne satellite synthetic aperture radars that address the desired instrument requirements. Two trade space analysis approaches are proposed, based on a multivariate analysis with two evaluation metrics and using parallel coordinate plots. The paper demonstrates the utility of the trade space model by considering two case studies. The first study looks at radar instruments on a broad range of small satellite platforms. This study narrows down a trade space of 1265 feasible radar designs to less than 44 Pareto optimal designs at different center frequencies (C- and X-band), elicits conditions for L-band SARs feasibility, and discusses the feasibility bounds and technical constraints on associated instrument and spacecraft requirements. The second study considers radars for 3U CubeSat platforms. The study identifies 44 Pareto optimal designs within 12,928 feasible designs and sheds light on the operational constraints required for the development of such innovative miniaturized radars.
Highlights SAR design model for trade space exploration at early design stages is proposed. 30 (X), 14 (C) and 14 (L-band) Pareto optimal SARs are obtained for small satellites. X-band and C-band SAR instruments are feasible for use with 3U CubeSat platforms. L-band SARs require larger antenna width in comparison with X and C-band SARs. PRF boundaries is the most powerful limiting constraint on SARs trade space (>90%).
Small satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) design: A trade space exploration model
Acta Astronautica ; 187 ; 458-474
2021-07-07
17 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR SATELLITE DESIGN AND OPERATION
Europäisches Patentamt | 2024
|