Ambiguities are one of the limiting factors of SAR product quality and are thus important subject to every mission performance analysis. Since target NRCS is highly heterogeneous, the resulting ambiguities affect different areas at very different levels. Therefore using global average ambiguity levels for product performance assessment is of limited use. In this paper we present a statistical analysis of signal to ambiguity levels taking into account the spatial variability of the NRCS by exploiting global backscattering maps.

@en

This paper provides an overview of the BIOMASS Mission End-to-End simulator (BEES) and of the mission performance analysis performed with it. The end-to-end performance, in terms of biomass estimates error, is close to the 20% error goal set for the mission. The main sources of errors are temporal decorrelation and the limited available bandwidth, while system induced errors have a negligible impact on the final performance.@en

In this paper a baseline (height) self-calibration concept is introduced and applied to simulations of two different single-pass interferometric SAR systems with a single-swath and a dual-swath configuration. The results will show that the general performance is very promising and that, by simultaneously acquiring two separated swathes, accuracies in the sub-decimetric range can be reached.

@en

This paper discusses the implementation of an end-to-end simulator for the BIOMASS mission. An overview of the system architecture is provided along with a functional description of the modules that comprise the simulator.@en

SIGNAL is an innovative earth exploration mission proposal with the main objective to estimate accurately and repeatedly topography and topographic changes associated with mass change or other dynamic effects on glaciers, ice caps and polar ice sheets. Elevation measurements are complemented with glacier velocity measurements, providing valuable additional information for a better understanding of the hydrology of glacierized basins and of the Arctic and Antarctic water cycle. SIGNAL is capable of monitoring all critical regions with a high spatial resolution and an adequate revisit time. This paper gives an overview about the actual mission design status and provides a brief description of the topography (DEM - digital elevation map) self-calibration strategy and the estimated global interferometric performance.@en