Near-Space Vehicle-Borne SAR With Reflector Antenna for High-Resolution and Wide-Swath Remote Sensing

Near-space is recognized as the atmospheric region from 20 to 100 km above the Earth´s surface. Near-space vehicles offer several advantages compared to low earth orbit satellites and airplanes because near-space vehicles are not constrained by orbital mechanics and fuel consumption. These advantages provide potential for future remote sensing applications, but little related work has been published. This paper explains what near-space is and how it should be exploited for remote sensing applications. A near-space vehicle-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with reflector antenna and digital beamforming on receive is proposed for high-resolution and wide-swath (HRWS) remote sensing. The system configuration, signal model, imaging scheme, system performance, and nadir echo suppression are investigated. An example system is conceptually designed, along with its system performance analysis. It is shown that the near-space vehicle-borne SAR with reflector antenna can operate with high flexibility and reconfigurability, thus enabling a satisfactory HRWS remote sensing performance.