L-band multistatic radar interferometry for 3D deformation vector decomposition

SAOCOM is an Argentinian L band system formed by two satellites (SAOCOM-1A and SAOCOM-1B). ESA is investigating the possible applications of a companion satellite (SAOCOM-CS) carrying a passive receiver working in concert with one of the SAOCOM-1 satellites. During the mission there will be cycles with a long along-track bistatic baseline, suitable for deformation monitoring. Together with the combination of ascending and descending orbits, this geometry will produce four measurements from different viewing geometries, enabling us to estimate the 3D motion vector. Here we investigate the sensitivity of such a configuration, and the opportunities for increasing the density of persistent scatterers.