• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2022

In this paper, the compact waveguide slot array antenna for interferometric radar altimeter is proposed. The proposed antenna structure consist of corrugation structure which is applied between each channel to improve isolation, three-channel waveguide slot array antenna and feeder. In addition, to reduce the occurrence of phase ambiguity, the baseline spacing of the three-channel antenna is analyzed and the results are applied to the design. For compact design, reduced height and SMP connector structure are used and the dip brazing method which is the conjugation method after dipping to flux is used for the fabrication of the lightweight antenna. The measurement result of the proposed antenna shows less than 1.41 : 1 (VSWR) and 48.3 dBc (isolation). The antenna gain is higher than 20.2 dBi and the side lobe levels are lower than 18.8 dB (vertical plane) and 10.0 dB (horizontal plane).

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.335-346
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• 2010

Recently, ESA (European Space Agency) has launched CryoSAT-2 for polar ice observations. CryoSAT-2 is equipped with a SIRAL (SAR/interferometric radar altimeter), which is a high spatial resolution radar altimeter. Conventional altimeters cannot measure a precise three-dimensional ground position because of the large footprint diameter, while SIRAL altimeter system accomplishes a precise three-dimensional ground positioning by means of interferometric synthetic aperture radar technique. In this study, we developed an efficient SIRAL SARIn mode processing technique to measure a precise three-dimensional ground position. We first simulated SIRAL SARIn RAW data for the ideal target by assuming the flat Earth and linear flight track, and second accessed the precision of three-dimensional geopositioning achieved by the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm consists of 1) azimuth processing that determines the squint angle from Doppler centroid, and 2) range processing that estimates the look angle from interferometric phase. In the ideal case, the precisions of look and squint angles achieved by the proposed algorithm were about -2.0 ${\mu}deg$ and 98.0 ${\mu}deg$, respectively, and the three-dimensional geopositioning accuracy was about 1.23 m, -0.02 m, and -0.30 m in X, Y and Z directions, respectively. This means that the SIRAL SARIn mode processing technique enables to measure the three-dimensional ground position with the precision of several meters.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.507-520
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• 2011

Conventional radar altimeter system measured directly the distance between the satellite and the ocean surface and frequently used by aircraft for approach and landing. The radar altimeter is good at flat surface like sea whereas it is difficult to determine precise three dimensional ground coordinates because the ground surface, unlike ocean, is very indented. To overcome this drawback of the radar altimeter, we have developed and validated the interferometric radar altimeter signal processing which is combined with new synthetic aperture and interferometric signal processing algorithm to extract precise three-dimensional ground coordinates. The proposed algorithm can accurately measure the three dimensional ground coordinates using three antennas. In a set of 70 simulations, the averages of errors in x, y and z directions were approximately -0.40 m, -0.02 m and 4.22 m, respectively and the RMSEs were about 3.40 m, 0.30 m and 6.20 m, respectively. The overall results represent that the proposed algorithm is effective for accurate three dimensional ground positioning.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2015

We present an implementation result of a computer GUI-based simulator using MATLAB to verify the performance of interferometric radar altimeter(IRA) which is possible to measure the slant range altitude and the cross-track angle to the nearest point for terrain aided navigation(TAN). After a brief description of the principle of TAN and IRA, we present that the grids are divided for the modeling of the reflected signal in digital elevation map(DEM) and so the radar cross section(RCS) of each grid is calculated and the signal-noise ratio(SNR) of the reflected signal in the radar beam width. And the signal processing procedures of the IRA and the structure of the IRA simulator are shown.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.285-291
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• 2012

The paper experimentally verifies the performance of Terrain-Aided Navigation (TAN) using an interferometric radio altimeter, which is recently used due to its accuracy. First, we propose a TAN system that utilizes an interferometric radio altimeter as a measurement system. Second, we implement extended Kalman filter, unscented Kalman filter, and particle filter to evaluate the performance of TAN according to the selection of filters and the difference of environments.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.838-848
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• 2014

We present a simulation study of an algorithm for the range and angle of arrival(AOA) estimation with an interferometric synthetic aperture radar(InSAR) altimeter using a real digital elevation model(DEM). We also illustrate a step-by-step procedure of generating raw InSAR data, as well as their range and azimuth compressed data, which is to be used for the subsequent altitude and angle estimation. The AOA is estimated using a deterministic maximum likelihood estimator(DMLE) applied to the first arrived point for each pulse in the compressed data obtained with three antennas. The range bin size and the pulse repetition interval(PRI) are much smaller than the cell size of the DEM used in this study. To make the DEM compatible to the radar parameters, we first generate a higher resolution DEM by linearly interpolating the given DEM. After a brief description of the principle of the InSAR altimeter, the algorithms for altitude and angle estimation are presented, and their performance is assessed through simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.83-92
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• 2022

This paper analyzes the performance of the IRA(Interferometric Radar Altimeter) by terrain type for estimating reliability of TRN(Terrain Referenced Navigation). The accuracy of the altitude is one of the key parameters of TRN's accuracy. When the antenna of the IRA has wide beamwidth, its altitude accuracy is directly affected by the configuration of the earth's surface. Hence, the accuracy and reliability of TRN can also be affected and may cause ambiguity in positioning. We present analysis data for estimating the reliability of TRN by modeling several topographies and analyzing the performance of the IRA. The results of the analysis are verified by comparison with test data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Association of Geographic Inforamtion Studies Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.128-129
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• 2010

기존의 고도계는 레이더 특성에 의해 직하부의 높이 값을 정밀하게 관측할 수 없었다. 그러나 레이더 간섭 고도계는 SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar) 영상의 칩 펄스(Chirp Pulse)를 이용한 고정밀 경사거리(Slant Range Distance)관측, 도플러 효과를 이용한 고정밀 경사각(Squint Angle)의 관측 및 레이더 간섭기법(SAR Interferometry)을 이용한 고정밀 관측각(Look Angle)의 관측을 가능하게 하였다. 이 연구의 목적은 레이더 간섭 고도계의 효율적인 신호처리 기법의 개발에 있다.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.3-17
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• 2004

Space-borne Earth observation technique is one of the most cost effective and rapidly advancing Earth science research tools today and the potential field and micro-wave radar applications have been leading the discipline. The traditional optical imaging systems including the well known Landsat, NOAA - AVHRR, SPOT, and IKONOS have steadily improved spatial imaging resolution but increasing cloud covers have the major deterrent. The new Earth observation satellites ENVISAT (launched on March 1 2002, specifically for Earth environment observation), ALOS (planned for launching in 2004 - 2005 period and ALOS stands for Advanced Land Observation Satellite), and RADARSAT-II (planned for launching in 2005) all have synthetic aperture radar (SAR) onboard, which all have partial or fully polarimetric imaging capabilities. These new types of polarimetric imaging radars with repeat orbit interferometric capabilities are opening up completely new possibilities in Earth system science research, in addition to the radar altimeter and scatterometer. The main advantage of a SAR system is the all weather imaging capability without Sun light and the newly developed interferometric capabilities, utilizing the phase information in SAR data further extends the observation capabilities of directional surface covers and neotectonic surface displacements. In addition, if one can utilize the newly available multiple frequency polarimetric information, the new generation of space-borne SAR systems is the future research tool for Earth observation and global environmental change monitoring. The potential field strength decreases as a function of the inverse square of the distance between the source and the observation point and geophysicists have traditionally been reluctant to make the potential field observation from any space-borne platforms. However, there have recently been a number of potential field missions such as ASTRID-2, Orsted, CHAMP, GRACE, GOCE. Of course these satellite sensors are most effective for low spatial resolution applications. For similar objects, AMPERE and NPOESS are being planned by the United States and France. The Earth science disciplines which utilize space-borne platforms most are the astronomy and atmospheric science. However in this talk we will focus our discussion on the solid Earth and physical oceanographic applications. The geodynamic applications actively being investigated from various space-borne platforms geological mapping, earthquake and volcano .elated tectonic deformation, generation of p.ecise digital elevation model (DEM), development of multi-temporal differential cross-track SAR interferometry, sea surface wind measurement, tidal flat geomorphology, sea surface wave dynamics, internal waves and high latitude cryogenics including sea ice problems.