A Tool for Mission Planning of Combined Satellite SAR Image Acquisitions
Weydahl, Dan Johan1; Olsen, Ole Morten2; Sudmann, Nils2; Timm, Lars3
1Norwegain Defence Research Establishment, NORWAY; 2Kongsberg Spacetec AS, NORWAY; 3University of Oslo, NORWAY

Today, there are several commercial satellite SAR systems available. However, most of them will require separate software tools for planning a set of data acquisitions over a region of interest. This is suboptimal for an end user who would like to know the overall acquisition possibilities from several sensors and SAR image providers. Kongsberg Spacetec AS in Norway have made a mission planning tool that incorporates the orbital parameters and acquisitions modes for several of the satellite SAR platforms frequently in use today.

Using the single tool MEOS MissionPlanner™ software from Kongsberg Spacetec AS, it is possible to obtain a complete overview of the foreseen SAR coverages over an area of interest. It is also possible to program the tool in an expert mode so that the user can obtain the best configuration for repeat-pass change detection, upcomming stereo SAR events, and future interferometric SAR acquisitions.

Tests with several case studies have shown the feasability of the MEOS MissionPlanner™ and usefulness when it comes to choosing the most optimal image combination for a given application on land or at sea. This software tool will also enable the end user to be more flexible when it comes to the choice of satellite image providers, satellite sensor and mode.
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[ArcGIS® plot of MEOS MissionPlanner™ search results for SpotLight and 3 m StripMap images covering a 5 km bufferzone on the Syria-Jordan boarder