An advanced terrain tracking altimeter

The results of a feasibility study into an advanced radar altimeter capable of operation over all global terrain types are presented. The study completed in June 1988 was undertaken on behalf of the European Space Agency by a team led by British Aerospace. Adaptive processing is used to allow the instrument to maintain maximum resolutir '1 ovcr the Ocean whilst adopting coarser resolution over topographic surfaccs. The possible data products and applications are summarised together with the operation of the tracking algorithms required. An experimental synthetic aperture mode of operation is assessed. The instrument has a built-in radiometer to estimate the wet tropospheric delay correction and a dual frequency altimeter to provide for ionospheric delay corrections.