Abstract：In distributed small satellites-synthetic aperture radar (DSS-SAR), the correlation of echoes is determined by both across-track and along-track baselines which are coupling, and the multi-baseline interferometry is obtained with multi small satellites SAR images. The optimal across-track baseline of DSS-SAR for terrain elevation measurement is more complicatedly determined than that of conventional SAR interferometry. A novel approach is presented in this paper to determine the optimal across-track baseline of DSS-SAR multi-baseline interferometry. On the basis of the statistical characteristics of phase difference of complex SAR image pair, the DSS-SAR interferometric phase estimation Crammer-Rao bound is deduced. The relationship between terrain height accuracy and across-track baseline is presented from the bound. And then the optimal across-track baseline is derived via derivative calculation. Finally, the optimal across-track baseline in different DSS-SAR configuration with three small satellites is calculated and analyzed. It is showed that the optimal baseline of single across-track baseline interferometry according to this paper is in agreement with that from known single satellite SAR interferometry. The result validates the novel approach proposed by this paper.
2006, Vol. 28 
