Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and the Data Collection System Digital Terrain Elevation Demonstration

Abstract : Digital Terrain Elevations (DTE) that can be rapidly generated, and that have better fidelity and accuracy than Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) Levels 1 or 2, would be extremely beneficial to Department of Defense (DoD) military operations, civil works programs, and various commercial applications. As a result, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), along with the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (TEC), are developing an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) elevation mapping capability. This system, the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar for Digital Radar Elevations (IFSARE), is capable of collecting and providing data in all weathers (reasonable), in day or night scenarios, and where obscurants are present. The IFSARE, which is currently undergoing Integration and Test, will allow for rapid on-line automatic processing of the collected digital radar data into DTE and high quality imagery. The prime contractor is the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM). This paper addresses the proof of concept for civil works applications by analyzing a data set taken by the Wright Labs/ERIM Data Collection System (DCS). The objective was to demonstrate the capability of an IFSAR system to provide high fidelity, fine resolution DTE that can be employed in hydraulic models of the Mississippi River watershed. The demonstration was sponsored by ARPA and TEC.