ECOSAR: P-band digital beamforming polarimetric and single pass interferometric SAR

EcoSAR is a state-of-the-art beamforming synthetic aperture radar (SAR) recently developed at the NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for the measurement of ecosystem structure and biomass. The airborne instrument operates at a center frequency of 435 MHz (P-band), and uses a multi-channel reconfigurable architecture to implement fully polarimetric and “single pass” interferometric measurements. The instrument architecture allows for the real-time configuration radar parameters, including center frequency, resolution, incidence angle, and number of beams, among others. The system is also designed to operate in standard or ping pong interferometric modes, and in full, orthogonal, or hybrid polarimteric modes. The instrument development was recently completed, and its first flight campaign successfully conducted in March 2014 over areas of Bahamas and Costa Rica.