Using open-source components to process interferometric terraSAR-X spotlight data

Abstract

We address the processing of interferometric TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X spotlight data. Processing steps necessary to derive interferograms at high spatial resolution from bi- and monostatic satellite images will be explained. The spotlight image mode is a beam steering technique focusing the antenna on a specific ground area. This results in a linear Doppler shift frequency in azimuth direction, which has to be matched to the master image. While shifting the interpolation kernel in azimuth during resampling, the frequency spectrum of the slave image is aligned to the master image. We show how to process bistatic TanDEM-X images and propose an integrated processing option for monostatic TerraSAR-X data in the Delft Object-oriented Radar Interferometric Software (DORIS). The paper focuses on the implementation of this algorithm for high-resolution spotlight InSAR in a public domain tool; hence, it becomes available to a larger research community. The results are presented for three test areas: Uluru in Australia, Las Vegas in the USA, and Lüneburg in Germany. © 2013 Michael Jendryke et al.