KEYWORDS: Radar, Sensors, Antennas, Interferometric synthetic aperture radar, Data acquisition, Data modeling, Calibration, Interferometry, Diagnostics, Control systems
With a vertical accuracy better than 1 m and collection rates up to 7000 km2/h, airborne interferometric synthetic
aperture radars (InSAR) bridge the gap between space borne radar sensors and airborne optical LIDARs. This paper
presents the latest generation of X-band InSAR sensors, developed by Intermap TechnologiesTM, which are operated on
our four aircrafts. The sensors collect data for the NEXTMap(R) program - a digital elevation model (DEM) with 1 m
vertical accuracy for the contiguous U.S., Hawaii, and most of Western Europe. For a successful operation, challenges
like reduction of multipath reflections, very high interferometric phase stability, and a precise system calibration had to
be mastered. Recent advances in sensor design, comprehensive system automation and diagnostics have increased the
sensor reliability to a level where no radar operator is required onboard. Advanced flight planning significantly improved
aircraft utilization and acquisition throughput, while reducing operational costs. Highly efficient data acquisition with
straight flight lines up to 1200 km is daily routine meanwhile. The collected data pass though our automated processing
cluster and finally are edited to our terrain model products. Extensive and rigorous quality control at every step of the
workflow are key to maintain stable vertical accuracies of 1 m and horizontal accuracies of 2 m for our 3D maps. The
combination of technical and operational advances presented in this paper enabled Intermap to survey two continents,
producing 11 million km2 of uniform and accurate 3D terrain data.
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