Roll-steering for improving SAOCOM-SAR performances

In the design of a spaceborne Synthetic Aperture RADAR mission with multiple modes and swaths, like the forecoming Argentinean constellation SAOCOM, the minimization of the number of beams, Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) switching, and the optimization of the coverage are fundamental issues. The paper discusses the impact of the roll-steering maneuver on these issues. The optimization of roll-steering with respect to satellite altitude is found by a theoretical analysis on a simplified geometry, and by a numerical approach that accounts for the ellipsoidal earth and all the modes foreseen for the sensor. The solution found for the SAOCOM case, shows that a single set of beams and PRFs can be exploited for all the modes.