Requirements for a space mission for DInSAR and PS analysis based on past and present missions

The aim of this paper is to highlight some important issues that should be taken into account when designing and planning a SAR mission dedicated to differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) and Permanent Scatterers (PS) analysis. Special attention is paid to the impact of different design parameters on the information that can be retrieved, namely: (1) different wavelengths; (2) repeat cycle; (3) polarization modes; (4) platform stability; (5) state vectors accuracy. The impact of satellite dead band at different frequencies is discussed as well, taking into account DEM estimation issues and the problem of atmospheric effects. It is shown how very small baselines are not always the best design solution at least for PS analysis. PS results obtained processing 3 multi-temporal data sets acquired by JERS, ERS and Radarsat over Tokyo are presented and discussed