A Satellite On-Board SAR Processing Chain for Generation of Rapid Civil Alerts

A Satellite On-Board SAR Processing Chain for Generation of Rapid Civil Alerts

Stefan Wiehle, Dominik Günzel, Björn Tings, Helko Breit, Ulrich Balss, Srikanth Mandapati
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Remote Sensing Technology Institute, Germany

Abstract

This paper describes the concept and prototype implementation of a satellite on-board SAR processing chain designed for Maritime Situation Awareness. It aims to reduce the latency between data acquisition and product delivery to about 3-4 minutes. SAR processing is one component of a larger prototype system being developed in the frame of the H2020 EO-ALERT project. It further comprises an optical data chain, data compression/encryption, and delivery. The system employs multiple boards with Multi-Processor-System-On-Chip (MPSoC) combining FPGAs and ARM CPUs. A tailored workflow and adapted L1 and L2 processing algorithms ensure that the requirements for latency and product quality are met.