Tools and analysis for distributed SAR systems

Tools

Zefi, Greta and Rollo, Finlay Gardiner and Ilioudis, Christos and Clemente, Carmine (2026) Tools and analysis for distributed SAR systems. IEEE Access, 4. pp. 883-896. ISSN 2169-3536 (https://doi.org/10.1109/TRS.2026.3680763)

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Abstract

Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a crucial sensor for wide-area Earth observation, playing a pivotal role in terrain mapping, ocean monitoring, and disaster management. To meet the growing demand for diverse applications and improved performance, and enabled by advances in satellite and radar technologies, distributed configurations have emerged as a key approach in the development of spaceborne SAR. This paper presents a full analytical characterization of distributed SAR systems. To the best of our knowledge, the closed-form expressions for azimuth and ground-range resolution in distributed SAR presented in this work are derived for the first time. Mathematical derivations of the azimuth and range resolution are provided, and the case of bandwidth overlap in azimuth resolution is also considered, together with a detailed characterization of iso-Doppler and iso-range lines. Among the various geometric configurations analyzed, particular attention is devoted to the symmetric case, where receivers are arranged symmetrically with respect to the transmitter. In this configuration, the iso-Doppler and iso-range contours converge to those of the equivalent monostatic SAR geometry.

ORCID iDs

Zefi, Greta, Rollo, Finlay Gardiner, Ilioudis, Christos and Clemente, Carmine ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6665-693X;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)