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Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646
www.elsevier.com/locate/asr
Received 18 April 2015; received in revised form 18 October 2015; accepted 21 October 2015
Available online 11 November 2015
Abstract
The Space Applications Centre (SAC), one of the major centers of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is developing a
high resolution, dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar as a science payload on Chandrayaan-2, ISRO’s second moon mission. With
this instrument, ISRO aims to further the ongoing studies of the data from S-band MiniSAR onboard Chandrayaan-1 (India) and the
MiniRF of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (USA). The SAR instrument has been configured to operate with both L- and S-bands, shar-
ing a common antenna. The S-band SAR will provide continuity to the MiniSAR data, whereas L-band is expected to provide deeper
penetration of the lunar regolith. The system will have a selectable slant-range resolution from 2 m to 75 m, along with standalone (L or
S) and simultaneous (L and S) modes of imaging. Various features of the instrument like hybrid and full-polarimetry, a wide range of
imaging incidence angles (10° to 35°) and the high spatial resolution will greatly enhance our understanding of surface properties
especially in the polar regions of the Moon. The system will also help in resolving some of the ambiguities in interpreting high values
of Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) observed in MiniSAR data. The added information from full-polarimetric data will allow greater
confidence in the results derived particularly in detecting the presence (and estimating the quantity) of water–ice in the polar craters.
Being a planetary mission, the L&S-band SAR for Chandrayaan-2 faced stringent limits on mass, power and data rate (15 kg, 100 W
and 160 Mbps respectively), irrespective of any of the planned modes of operation. This necessitated large-scale miniaturization, exten-
sive use of on-board processing, and devices and techniques to conserve power. This paper discusses the scientific objectives which drive
the requirement of a lunar SAR mission and presents the configuration of the instrument, along with a description of a number of fea-
tures of the system, designed to meet the science goals with optimum resources.
Ó 2015 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Synthetic Aperture Radar; Hybrid-polarimetry; Full-polarimetry; Noise Equivalent Sigma Zero; Circular Polarization Ratio; Ambiguity
analysis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2015.10.029
0273-1177/Ó 2015 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
628 D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646
of the mission will aid this remote sensing instrument with detect the presence of water–ice. MiniSAR and MiniRF
in-situ lunar observations. instruments have operated in hybrid-polarimetric mode
The SAR is a dual-frequency configuration with simul- from which Stokes’ vectors and its daughter products eg.,
taneous operation in L&S-bands and has enhanced capa- ‘degree of linear/circular polarization’ and CPR were
bilities compared with the S-band MiniSAR of derived.
Chandrayaan-1 (Spudis et al., 2013). The principal imaging During analysis of MiniSAR data, high CPR values
frequency band (S-band) was selected to match those of were observed both inside and outside of lunar craters in
earlier MiniSAR, MiniRF and Earth-based observations. polar as well as equatorial regions. The same was also
The second frequency, in L-band, will be utilized for the observed in permanently shadowed as well as sunlit areas.
first time for lunar studies. It has been selected keeping in The incidence of high CPR can be either due to double-
view its capability to penetrate deeper into the lunar rego- bounce scattering induced by surface roughness or due to
lith enabling extraction of information from sub-surface dielectric inhomogeneity caused by ice particles in lunar
features. It will be extremely useful for water–ice detection regolith, as explained by the Coherent Backscatter Opposi-
and volume estimation. Both of the SAR systems are tion Effect (CBOE) (Spudis, 2006). This analysis remained
designed for resolutions from 2 m to 75 m, with hybrid inconclusive due to limited characterization of target scat-
and full polarimetric capabilities and passive radiometer tering mechanism from hybrid polarimetric data. A pro-
modes of operation. posed solution to this problem uses the Vector Radiative
Transfer (VRT) model that explains the complete scatter-
2. Science goals ing behavior of the target based on its physical property
and composition. The VRT model (Fa et al., 2011) requires
The dual-frequency SAR will enable a host of applica- full-polarimetric data (rather than hybrid-polarimetric
tions like locating and quantifying water–ice in the lunar data) as input. Full-polarimetric data contains more com-
polar regions; understanding the scattering characteristics prehensive scattering information for any arbitrary polar-
of the lunar surface and subsurface features; mapping the ization state (e.g., circular, linear and hybrid modes).
lunar craters and other geological features, especially in This enables certain target decompositions that are model
the polar regions, with finer details; and retrieving lunar sur- based (Freeman and Durden, 1998) and Eigen–vector
face parameters like dielectric constant and surface rough- based (Cloude, 1983; Cloude and Pottier, 1997), yielding
ness. These are elaborated in the following sub-sections. more information about a target than m–d or m–v decom-
position (Raney, 2007a, 2012). The final result is a much
2.1. Detection and estimation of water–ice less ambiguous detection of water–ice; thus full-
polarimetric modes of imaging have been planned in this
Previous ground-based and spaceborne observations sug- mission in addition to those of hybrid polarimetry.
gest permanently shadowed polar regions as potential zones Surface roughness derived from SAR measurements is a
for presence of water–ice on the Moon. Circular Polariza- function of incidence angle (Fa et al., 2011). Observations
tion Ratio (CPR), an important parameter derived from at multiple incidence angles planned in this mission will
the radar measurements, has been traditionally used to help further in resolving high CPR ambiguities arising
Penetration depth Vs. FeO+TiO2 content Penetration depth Vs. FeO+TiO2 content
14 8
(A) 1.6 g/cm3
L-Band S-Band (A) 1.6 g/cm3
(B) 1.8 g/cm3
7 (B) 1.8 g/cm3
12 (C) 2.0 g/cm3
(A) (A)
(C) 2.0 g/cm3
6
10 (B) (B)
5
8 (C)
D(m)
D(m)
(C)
4
6
3
4
2
2 1
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
FeO+TiO2(wt.%) FeO+TiO2(wt.%)
Fig. 1. Simulated penetration depths of L-band and S-band signals for lunar surface as a function of FeO + TiO2 contents of regolith at various bulk
densities.
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 629
constant distributions within their floors. However, the With high resolution modes of Chandrayaan-2
Chandrayaan-1 MiniSAR could only map a few sites in dual-frequency SAR, such features can be studied with
the lunar non-polar regions where measured dielectric con- finer details of their structures and compositions, and
stant values were available for validation. As high-resolution lunar morphological maps can be
Chandrayaan-2 dual-frequency SAR is expected to cover generated.
polar as well as non-polar regions in full polarimetric The high resolution data will also facilitate crater age
mode, it will facilitate development of dielectric constant determination based on size-frequency distribution of smal-
models that can be validated with observations from ler craters and secondary craters on the floors of larger
Apollo missions. craters.
Chandrayaan-2 dual-frequency SAR data with steep Further, the advantages of high-resolution, steep incident
(10°) and moderate (35°) incident angles can also be uti- angles and enhanced radiometry planned in dual-frequency
lized to estimate surface roughness of lunar regolith. SAR, will facilitate high resolution crater floor mapping.
Dependence of back-scattering coefficient on surface This will play an important role in characterizing scattering
roughness is well known, and its sensitivity for L-band mechanisms in the areas where water–ice may exist.
and S-band are different as shown in Fig. 4. Hence, these
two frequencies can be used together at low and moderate
incident angles to derive roughness in the lunar surface. 2.4. Quantitative estimation of regolith thickness and
distribution
2.3. Investigation of geo-morphological features
The emissivity corresponding to lunar surface materials
The lunar surface is marked by signatures of geo- (in microwave region, as measured by radar brightness
morphological evolution through time by activities like temperature) can provide valuable information about the
meteoritic impact, volcanic eruptions and solar winds. composition of the regolith over lunar surface. The bright-
Such features carry significant amounts of information ness temperature as measured at higher wavelengths such
about the origin and evolution of lunar crust and any phys- as S- and L-band correspond to emitted signals from a
ical processes on the lunar surface. While many of these thick layer depending on the penetration depth at those
geo-morphological features have been studied and associ- wavelengths and is likely to provide information about
ated processes understood through optical sensors by pre- the regolith depth, distribution and its characteristics.
vious lunar missions, an orbiting SAR is expected to Changé 1 provided the first global map of regolith thick-
provide a rich augmentation of information owing to its ness using multichannel microwave radiometer (Fa and
different target interaction mechanisms and surface pene- Jin, 2010). Chandrayaan-2 dual-frequency SAR can be
tration capability. Using Chandrayaan-1 MiniSAR data operated in passive mode over selected regions in lunar
many geo-morphological features pertaining to lunar Polar polar and non-polar regions and will provide possible
Regions were studied and mapped. However due to the opportunity for quantitative estimation of regolith distri-
relatively poorer resolution of MiniSAR data, finer details bution and the associated ilmenite (FeO + TiO2) and 3He
of the lunar morphological features could not be studied. deposits. In this context, empirical relationships are being
developed for inversion of brightness temperature to rego-
lith thickness through three layer scattering model (Fa and
Jin, 2007).
Based on the above considerations, the science objec-
tives of Chandrayaan-2 dual-frequency SAR may be sum-
marized as:
(d) (e)
Fig. 5. Some results from RISAT-1 Hybrid Polarimetric Mode. In these images, blue, red and green represent odd-bounce, even-bounce and volume-
scattering, respectively. (a) Intermixing of freshwater from Sabarmati river (Gujarat, India) with saline water of Arabian Sea. (b) Backscattering from sea-
surface due to rain over Andaman sea (cloud-like appearance). (c) Fresh lava flow from volcano Mt.Sinabung, Indonesia, as imaged on 8th July, 2015 (a
lower look angle of 34.5° resulted in foreshortening of the volcano). (d) Ahmedabad region, India, with incidence angle of 37°. (e) Ahmedabad region,
India, with incidence angle of 21°. Odd-bounce effects (in blue) are accentuated in image with lower incidence angle, compared to that in (d). (For
interpretation of the references to color in this figure caption, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
be analyzed simultaneously (as opposed to solely the CPR, tion combinations. With the radar scattering model
as demonstrated in the work of Campbell et al. (2006) and developed in this study, a significant range of lunar surface
Spudis et al., (2010a), (2013), etc). Fully polarimetric radar and subsurface properties can be estimated, such as lunar
scattering theory might be another alternative to detect ice surface roughness, subsurface rock abundance, regolith
since it contains all the scattering information for any thickness, and regolith dielectric properties. For example,
arbitrary polarization state (e.g., circular, linear and hybrid the regolith thickness is known at the Apollo landing sites
modes), more than a single parameter of the CPR (Fa (Fa et al., 2011), which gives us a possibility of calibration,
et al., 2011), and will be crucial in constraining the ambigu- leading to a much more accurate global regolith thickness
ities in detecting ice. map with higher spatial resolution from Chandrayaan-2
In addition to the prime application of polar-ice detec- fully polarimetric SAR data.
tion, a host of other applications can be addressed using For smooth lunar regions with few buried rocks, such as
fully-polarimetric data, as discussed here. Fa et al. (2011) pyroclastic deposits, the ratio of the radar echo strengths in
developed a theoretical model for radar scattering from orthogonal polarizations is sensitive to the real part of the
the lunar regolith layer using Vector Radiative Transfer dielectric constant. Using the full-polarimetric SAR data
(VRT) theory of random media (Jin, 1994). This model is in combination with the above scattering model, the real part
a fully polarimetric scattering model for both monostatic of the dielectric constant could potentially be estimated over
and bistatic radar observations, which allows us to calcu- large regions from orbit. The loss tangent of the same regions
late both the backscattering and bistatic radar scattering could then be obtained from radar observations at L and S
coefficients for any desired transmit and receive polariza- band of Chandrayaan-2 SAR. With the derived dielectric
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 633
properties, it might be possible to study how ilmenite content S-band data-takes over the same region of interest, thereby,
(FeO and TiO2 abundances) varies with depth, which is not calling for simultaneous mode of imaging.
easily investigated using other remote sensing techniques.
In summary, fully polarimetric SAR data at two fre- 3.5. Axial ratio
quencies enables quantitative investigation of a variety of
surface and subsurface properties. An axial ratio of better than 2 dB has been aimed at for
this system, which will be obtained by ensuring minimum
3.3. Resolution options amplitude and phase imbalances between H and V trans-
mission paths (to be eleborated later) and by having a good
The slant-range resolution of the instrument is selectable cross-polarization ratio of the antenna (better than 30 dB).
from a wide range of choices spanning 2–75 m, to address a This axial ratio is found to be adequate for the targetted
number of scientific objectives. A coarse resolution acquisi- mission science. For example, CPR, the most useful param-
tion with high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), equivalent to eter used to detect the presence of water–ice at the lunar
Noise Equivalent Sigma Zero (NESZ) of about 30 dB, is poles, is found to be far less affected by the transmitted
necessary for certain applications like radio-physical char- axial ratio than by the polarimetric properties of the lunar
acterization of the regolith, and detection and estimation of surface (Raney et al., 2011). Although other Stokes-based
water–ice deposits. Finer resolution data (2 m or 3 m slant- measurements may be more sensitive to imperfect circular-
range, though with poorer NESZ) will permit derivation of ity of the illuminating field, recent studies indicate that for
structural information from the lunar surface, particularly a dominant scattering mechanism, the associated decompo-
from the regions inside the craters, for geo-morphological sition parameter is less sensitive to variations of transmit
studies, as discussed in the previous section. Options of ellipticity (Sabry and Vachon, 2014).
hybrid-polarimetry and full-polarimetry exist for all the As the study of effect of imperfect-circularly polarized
resolution modes of the L&S-band SAR, and the transmission on retrieved polarimetric parameters is a
polarization-resolution combination will be user selectable new topic, the validation of results obtained is not accom-
through telecommand. plished yet. Existing results related to such kind of analyses
are not based on original hybrid-polarimetric data (Touzi
3.4. Simultaneous and standalone SAR modes and Charbonneau, 2014). Work is in progress on simula-
tions using varying degrees of ellipticity in the transmitted
One of the salient features of the dual-frequency SAR is field, against a variety of known target types, including, in
simultaneous L- & S-band operation, in addition to the particular, ones that have a dominant linearly-polarized
stand-alone operation in the individual bands. Simultane- component at an angle with respect to H or V
ous data gathering in the two bands of operation allows sur- polarizations.
face roughness and dielectric constant estimation without
recourse to any other observations. The sensitivities of fre- 3.6. Radiometer mode
quency of illumination and the look angle to the surface
roughness are different for L-band and S-band observa- This mode of operation will be used to measure the
tions, a property variance that can be effectively exploited brightness temperatures of the surface from which regolith
in this application. As discussed in the previous section on thickness and distribution may be estimated, as discussed
science goals, multi-frequency data are of significant value in the previous section. The empirical relations to derive
for estimating lunar polar-ice detection index, required for the same are, at present, under development. This mode
detection and estimation of water–ice deposits. The index has been added at a late stage of development of the system
based on a multi-layer scattering model for radar backscat- using only software provisions, without any implications
ter at L- and S-bands showed that buried ice and rock inclu- on the hardware design and configuration; further details
sions are separable in terms of their radar backscatter at on this are presented in Section 4.4.
different incident angles (Pandey et al., 2013b). This index, The incorporation of the above features in the system
along with the other important parameter CPR, will be very concurrent with the stringent physical constraints from
useful for identifying and characterizing lunar polar water– spacecraft design posed many challenges that were tackled
ice. Simultaneous imaging in L- and S-bands is further with ingenuity. In effect, two complete SAR systems were
expected to improve the estimation accuracy of this index. realized in a 15 kg total mass budget. Constraints on
An important feature of simultaneous mode of acquisi- data-rate (of 160 Mbps) and raw-bus power (of 100 W),
tion is the targeted phase coherency, better than 45° were met irrespective of any resolution and polarization
between L- and S-band data corresponding to each target, settings and in either standalone or concurrent (simultane-
using synchronization signals between the systems for the ous L&S-band operation) modes of operation. The system
two frequency chains. In addition to these, use of onboard design efficiently marries the science requirements and the
chirp replica for range compression is mandatory to demanding spacecraft constraints, as described in the fol-
achieve the required phase coherency. Synchronization of lowing section. At the end of the section, Table 3 compares
this order may not be possible with time-separated L- & the salient features of Chandrayaan-2 dual-frequency SAR
634 D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646
4. System configuration
Fig. 8. S-band SAR block schematic (L-band SAR is similar except for the two switches and hybrid for Lander TTC).
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 635
the downlink data volume. The BAQ setting is selectable An important aspect of the radiometer mode is the need for
from 2- to 6-bits output. correction for emissions from front-end components
Meeting the physical goals for the accommodation of between the antenna and the receiver. This calls for temper-
the receivers meant a great deal of miniaturization in the ature measurements at all such elements, viz, switches at
two receivers (for V & H) and frequency generator, realized receiver input, circulators (and the hybrid in case of S-
in a single tray. Indigenously developed Microwave Inte- band), which form part of the SAR auxilliary data stream.
grated Circuits (MICs), Monolithic Microwave Integrated Prior to the start of the radiometer mode, the spacecraft
Circuits (MMICs) and Multichip Modules (MCMs) were will be yaw-rotated by 110° for cold-sky measurements to
used extensively to achieve the mass and volume targets. improve the accuracy of brightness temperature estimates.
The digitally implemented functions in the payload are The frequency of such measurements is yet to be finalized.
mainly three, viz. Payload Controller (PLC), Digital Chirp The achievable antenna temperatures and brightness tem-
Generator (DCG) and Data Acquisition & Compression perature accuracies are also under detailed study, but are
System (DACS). Traditionally, these functionalities have expected to be of the order of 2 K.
been in separate subsystems or packages; however in this
payload they have been integrated into a single-board
high-density entity using Field Programmable Gate Array 5. System design
(FPGA, Xilinx Virtex 4) devices and Application Specific
Integrated Circuits (ASIC) thereby achieving significant As a departure from the general flow of SAR system
gains in mass and volume. The chirp-generation is pro- design, in which antenna area requirements are derived
grammable based on ground-command, depending on the from system specifications, the Chandrayaan-2 SAR design
selected options of bandwidth (2–75 MHz) and pulsewidth had to start with antenna area as an input. This was due to
(25–80 ls). severe payload accommodation and mass constraints. The
The payload controller runs on a microcontroller device, maximum possible aperture size for the spacecraft was
onboard controller (OBC) ASIC, in the single-board digital 1.35 1.1 m. The system design envisaged multiple resolu-
subsystem. The PLC takes care of all the control and tim- tion modes from 2 m to 75 m forcing a wide range of signal
ing signals necessary for the subsystems to tick in unison. bandwidths from 75 MHz to 2 MHz with attendant chal-
The PLCs of the L-band and S-band instruments intercom- lenges in the hardware. In addition, the available power
municate and manage the synchronization required during and data rate were limited. Based on these and the target-
L&S-band simultaneous mode of operation. The integrated ted NESZ performance, several trade-off studies were per-
Receiver-FG and Digital subsystems have a common EPC, formed among factors like transmit power, pulsewidth,
stacked with these two packages. PRF and other operational parameters for stand-alone
and simultaneous operation of the two bands. Variable
4.4. Radiometer mode of operation pulsewidth (from 25 ls to 80 ls, in steps of 5 ls) became
a necessity to balance instrument performance with avail-
During the radiometer mode of operation, the RF trans- able spacecraft resources. The SAR performance was opti-
mission is inhibited and the position of the receive windows mized over a swath of 10 km, in both hybrid as well as full
is set corresponding to the observation geometry. The polarimetric operation. In full-polarimetric mode, how-
introduction of this mode has been possible at an advanced ever, the maximum pulsewidth possible was found to be
stage of system realization owing to the fact that the pair of 50 ls, as the echo data-window had to be accommodated
receiver protection switches are absorptive in nature, and in shorter inter-pulse periods (owing to higher receive
therefore, will be useful for ‘‘hot-load calibration” required PRF). This resulted in a penalty on radiometry (NESZ
for reliable radiometer measurements. Out of the two degradation 2 dB).
protection switches at the input of a single receiver chain Onboard signal processing, using range-compression
(H/V), only the one which is external to the receiver is shown and BAQ, was planned to meet the allowable data-rates.
in the block schematic (Fig. 8). The pair of switches is oper- The range delay variation over the 10 km swath is 11 ls
ated by a common command from PLC. During the pro- to 41 ls, leading to echo-window (including transmitted
tection (isolation) state of the switches, the antenna is pulsewidth) variation of 36 ls to 121 ls. As the pulsewidth
isolated and each switch is connected to the RF matched forms a significant fraction of the overall echo-window,
termination and can be used for ‘Noise-only’ measurement some reduction in data rate (38–70%) was possible by
(N) like in a Dicke-configuration. For ‘Signal + Noise’ onboard range-compression. The BAQ achieves further
measurement (S + N), the switch-pair is in insertion-state compression of the data and at the nominal setting of 4 bits
(connects the antenna), and enables acquisition of yields a maximum final compressed data rate of 160 Mbps
antenna-temperature measurements. Antenna temperature while meeting all the mission goals.
is the gain-weighted sum of brightness temperatures as seen As has been mentioned earlier, configuring a dual-
from the antenna. The ‘S + N’ and ‘N’ measurements are frequency SAR called for introduction of filters at receiver
averaged for 100 ls onboard and downlinked for further front-ends to reject out-of-band signals, thereby increasing
averaging on ground to improve the temperature sensitivity. receive-chain losses and impacting system SNR adversely.
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 637
This is more critical for the S-band SAR, as the S-band Radiometric performance, which is the prime requirement
TTC frequencies (communication link to the Earth) are for 75 m resolution mode, is shown in Table 2(a) and
very close to the SAR frequencies and are constantly pre- Figs. 10(a & b). Radiometric resolution (18- look process-
sent. RF coupling analysis was carried out to determine fil- ing) has been estimated to be 1.7–1 dB, for a practical
ter rejections required for acceptable leakage during SAR range of target back-scatter properties resulting in SNRs
operation and for safety of SAR receivers during periods of 0–10 dB, respectively. Radiometric accuracy is specified
of non-operation. Similarly, spurious levels from SAR to be better than 1 dB.
transmit chain have been specified to constrain coupling Since the radar echo windows need to avoid transmit
to TTC receiver to acceptable levels. pulse durations (and nadir returns), and range and azimuth
The system specifications resulting from the foregoing ambiguities need to be minimized, analyses were carried
considerations and trade-offs are presented in Table 1. out for feasible PRF ranges. For this, a performance metric
Table 1
Major system specifications and key parameters for dual-frequency SAR.
L-band S-band
Altitude 100 km nominal
Frequency 1.25 GHz 2.5 GHz
SAR modes Hybrid-polarimetry, full-polarimetry, single-
and dual-polarization modes
Range swath 10 km
Range coverage 16–70 km
Look angle coverage 9.1°–34.6°
Incidence angle coverage 9.6°–36.9°
Resolution options 2 m, 3 m, 4 m, 6 m, 12 m, 20 m, 50 m, 75 m
Resolution 2m 75 m 2m 75 m
Antenna Dual polarized microstrip antenna
(Integrated L-band and S-band)
Antenna Dimensions 1.35 1.1 m (nominal)
Beam width 9.2° 11.2° 4.6° 5.6°
Antenna peak gain 22 dBi 25 dBi
Axial ratio in hybrid polarimetry mode <2 dB
Polarization isolation >30 dB
Transmit pulse width 80–25 ls (for hybrid polarimetry mode)
50–25 ls (for full polarimetry mode)
Transmit PRF 2800–3500 Hz
Receive PRF 2800–3500 Hz (for hybrid-polarimetry mode)
5600–6600 Hz (for full-polarimetry mode)
Chirp bandwidth 75 MHz 2 MHz 75 MHz 2 MHz
ADC sampling frequency 83.33 MHz for 2 m resolution/62.5 MHz (for the rest)
Effective sampling Frequency after digital 83.33 MHz 15.625 MHz 83.33 MHz 15.625 MHz
filtering
SSPA peak power output 45 W per polarization 40 W per polarization
Max duty cycle 24%
Average Transmitted power (max) 10.8 W 9.6 W
Onboard processing Range compression, 2–6 bits BAQ
Data rate 160 Mbps (max) for all frequency and polarization
combinations of operation
Table 2(a)
Noise Equivalent Sigma Zero (NESZ) for 75 m slant range resolution.
Incidence angle and off-nadir Hybrid polarimetric mode Full polarimetric mode
corresponding to beam center
L-band 9.6° (16 km) <33.7 dB <32.1 dB
36.9° (70 km) <27.1 dB <25.6 dB
S-band 9.6° (16 km) <26.4 dB <24.9 dB
36.9° (70 km) <23 dB <20.9 dB
Table 2(b): Radiometric resolution for 75 m slant range resolution
Processed number of looks SNR : 0 dB SNR: 10 dB
L&S-bands 18 1.7 dB 1 dB
638 D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646
Table 3
Comparison of Chandrayaan-2 SAR with MiniSAR and MiniRF instruments.
Chandrayaan-2 SAR Chandrayaan-1 LRO MiniRF
MiniSAR
Altitude 100 km 100 km 50 km
Frequency L-band:1250 MHz, S-band: 2380 MHz S-band: 2380 MHz
S-band: 2500 MHz X-band: 7140 MHz
Bandwidth 75 MHz–2 MHz 2.1 MHz 20 MHz
Polarization Single, dual, hybrid-pol and full-pol Hybrid pol Hybrid pol
Incidence angle 10° to 37° 35° 48°
Resolution 2–75 m 86 m 15–150 m
Swath 10 km in L&S-bands 8 km 6 km in S-band
4 km in X-band
NESZ for hybrid polarimetry mode L-band 30 dB 30 dB
at 75 m resolution <33 dB @ 10° incidence
<27 dB @ 37° incidence
S-band
<26 dB @ 10° incidence
<-23 dB @ 37° incidence
NESZ for Full-Polarimetry mode at L-band – –
75 m resolution <32 dB @ 10° incidence
<25 dB @ 37° incidence
S-band
<24 dB @ 10° incidence
<20 dB @ 37° incidence
Transmit power 46.5dBm for L-band 46 dBm 42.6dBm for S-band
46dBm for S-band 41.1dBm for X-band
Antenna 1.35 1.1 m 1.37 0.925 m 1.8 0.6 m
Axial ratio <2 dB 2.5 dB 2.5 dB
Radiometer mode Present; antenna temperature – –
accuracy of 2 K
Mass 15 kg 8.2 kg 13.9 kg
Fig. 10(a). Radiometric performance for hybrid polarimetry with 75 m slant-range resolution and 80 ls pulsewidth. Figure on left: L-Band SAR case; on
right: S-Band SAR case.
of integrated ambiguity has been chosen instead of the SAR system. Considering an acceptable integrated ambigu-
more conventional separate range and azimuth ambigui- ity ratio threshold of 20 dB, minimum PRFs of 2800 Hz
ties. This is an effective way of specifying performance, and 2900 Hz for L-band and S-band, respectively, have
since, in the image domain, total ambiguity at a particular been arrived at, as shown in Fig. 12.
point appears as an integrated entity, and cannot be sepa- The other factors which place constraints on PRF are
rated into azimuth and range ambiguities corresponding to slant-range variation, corresponding to off-nadir points of
individual targets in respective directions. Fig. 11 illustrates 16–70 km and altitude variation, pegged at ±20 km for
the integrated ambiguity mechanism applicable for any the mission. These lead to a net PRF span of
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 639
Fig. 10(b). Radiometric performance for full polarimetry with 75 m slant-range resolution and 50 ls pulsewidth. Figure on left: L-Band SAR case; on
right: S-Band SAR case.
2800–3500 Hz for hybrid polarimetry modes. For transmitted. Such a provision makes the range-ambiguity
full-polarimetry modes, the receive PRF doubles thereby same as that for hybrid polarimetry mode, which is other-
resulting in a span of 5600–7000 Hz. However, as higher wise degraded to unacceptable levels for higher incidence
PRFs mean a need for higher processing speeds, a PRF angles. Subsequent to the spacecraft orbit change from
of 6600 Hz was discovered to be the maximum possible 200 km to 100 km, the range ambiguities with higher PRFs
for the system. Dynamic updates have been provided for were found to be benign, as shown in Fig. 13. However, the
in the system, by which PRFs and associated timing provision for chirp slope reversal is retained, which may be
parameters can be updated dynamically in the midst of useful in case of any exigency.
an imaging session, by way of pipelined telecommands.
This will be useful to address shifts in targetted swaths 6. Science modes
owing to terrain variations.
During the initial phase of design, when the SAR was As the mission is designed to cater to a large number of
supposed to operate from 200 km circular orbit, a special science objectives, considerable flexibility of the operational
measure was devised to improve the range-ambiguity aris- parameters has been built into the system. These parameters
ing due to doubling of receive-PRF (6600 Hz maximum) include the frequency or frequencies of irradiation, polariza-
encountered in full-polarimetric modes. In this method, tion, NESZ, incidence angle span and resolution. These are
transmit chirp slope polarity is toggled with every pulse effected by a gamut of settings available like bandwidth, pul-
640 D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646
Fig. 12. Integrated Ambiguity for different PRFs (Top to bottom: 2600 to 3000 Hz in steps of 100 Hz). Figure on Left: L-Band SAR, Right: S-Band SAR.
Fig. 13. Chirp slope reversal in full-polarimetric mode to improve on range ambiguity. (Figure on top: Illustration of data windows in full-polarimetric
mode and source of higher ambiguity; Bottom Left: Range ambiguity for 200 km orbit case; Bottom Right: Range ambiguity for 100 km orbit case).
sewidth, PRF, echo window position and BAQ. However in 7. Characterization of SAR
finalizing a set of operational parameters and settings, care
needs to be exercised to keep the raw bus power demand 7.1. Design validation model (DVM) characterization
and the output data rate within specified boundaries. A total
of twelve primary combinations of the variable factors have Before finalizing the flight model configuration, design
been laid down for each of the science modes. Table 4 illus- validation models (DVM) of the L-band and S-band SAR
trates the science requirements and corresponding configu- subsystems have been developed (Fig. 14), and have under-
ration settings; the PRF values shown are approximate, gone validation tests. Their performance has been character-
and they need to be finalized and ground-commanded based ized over the operational temperature range. The DVM
on exact orbit and imaging geometry for a particular imag- systems have been integrated and thoroughly tested.
ing session. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) will be used During characterization of DVM, the chirp waveforms
to position echo windows precisely. for all the bandwidths have been measured at different
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 641
Table 4
Identified science modes and corresponding configuration settings.
stages of integration, e.g., at transmit chain output, demod- TTC system has also been measured. Many important fea-
ulated analog output of the receiver fed with coupled signal tures in the digital system, like replica acquisition and
from transmitter and at post-digitization stage (with and range compression, implementation of chirp reversal and
without BAQ). Measurement of the receiver noise-figure, range compression procedure for toggling chirp slope,
spurious components, gain and phase errors in transmit implementation of BAQ with range compressed data, etc.
and receive chains, gain and phase imbalances between have been verified thoroughly. Correction of transmit
receiver I & Q have been carried out to ensure performance chain phase deviations, owing to variations in SSPA tem-
of the integrated SAR system. To meet the RF coupling perature, using look-up table (LUT) in PLC has also been
requirements between SAR system and spacecraft TTC validated.
systems, the transmit chains have been measured for spuri- In the final spacecraft configuration, one of the two
ous levels at the frequencies of interest. Similarly, suscepti- TTC antennas meant to communicate with earth station
bility of receiver chains to the frequencies generated by is located adjacent to the SAR antenna, thereby calling
642 D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646
L&S-Band Common Antenna Integrated L-Band and S-Band SAR system being
undergoing paern measurements characterized
Fig. 14. Design validation models of L-band and S-band SAR systems and their characterization.
for measurements to ensure RF coupling is within specified 7.2. Flight model (FM) characterization plan
limits. The same has been successfully completed. (Fig. 15)
Antenna patterns have been measured in a near-field facil- Development of qualification model (QM) and flight
ity indigenously built during RISAT-1 development; the model (FM) subsystems is currently in progress. Subse-
software has been developed in-house for near-field to quently all the subsystems will undergo thermo-vacuum
far-field conversion using the holographic technique. The temperature cycles for respective temperature ranges. The
axial ratio of circularly polarized transmission depends qualification temperature range for the electronics is
on gain and phase imbalances between V & H transmit 15 °C to +55 °C, and the acceptance range is 10 °C to
chains integrated with the antenna, and hence, will be mea- 50 °C. These temperature specifications are derived consid-
sured subsequent to the finalization of phase-correction ering subsystem operating temperatures of 0–40 °C. The
lookup table. antenna, however, has to be qualified over a wider temper-
The results of the above characterization tests are emi- ature range of 100 °C to 100 °C.
nently encouraging and provide confidence and impetus All the subsystems, after integration, will follow charac-
to proceed with the actual flight hardware. terization plans similar to that for DVM systems. In addi-
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 643
Fig. 16(b). Identified regions of interest for regolith thickness and distribution measurements using radiometer mode.
be operated at selected sites, tentatively shown in Fig. 16 to be followed while programming the SAR system. These
(b), for estimating regolith thickness and its distribution. commands will be uploaded to the spacecraft by Spacecraft
The regions of interest shown in these two figures, 16(a & Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Com-
b), are representative in nature and are likely to be mand Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru using Indian Deep
extended later. Some of these acquisitions will be planned Space Network (IDSN), located at Byalalu, near Ben-
during noon-midnight orbits, primarily meant for optical galuru. IDSN is equipped with two ground terminals with
sensors, depending on spacecraft power balance and 18 m and 32 m antennas for S-band TTC and X-band data
amount of memory available in the recorder. The imaging downlink.
timelines considering the operation of all sensors will be Telecommand Telemetry (TCTM) system of spacecraft
finalized at a later stage of the project. will respond to the telecommands from the ground station
(comprising imaging command set and corresponding
8.2. Payload operations parameters) to be passed to Payload controller (PLC) of
SAR payload. Imaging with desired look angle will be
The payload team from Space Applications Centre effected by roll-tilting of the spacecraft. On receiving the
(SAC), Ahmedabad, will provide the requisite algorithm ‘map on’ command, the PLC will generate the necessary
for estimation of SAR imaging parameters to the Mission timing and control signals for RF transmission and data
team of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru. These acquisition. Each SAR data frame (corresponding to each
will be used to plan and operate different science modes PRF) will be preceded by payload specific auxiliary data
identified in Table 4. The payload team will also provide and routed to Baseband Data Handling (BDH) system of
different payload operational telecommand requirements spacecraft, wherein additional formatting would take place
Fig. 17. SAR payload operations (tentative). (SAC: Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad; ISAC: ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru; ISTRAC: ISRO
Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network, Bengaluru; ISSDC: Indian Space Science Data Centre, Byalalu).
D. Putrevu et al. / Advances in Space Research 57 (2016) 627–646 645
to include spacecraft auxiliary data. This data will be be a giant leap for the Indian microwave remote sensing
initially stored in 40 Gbit Solid State Recorder (SSR) and initiative.
played-back using X-band link (8.4/16.8 Mbps) to IDSN,
Byalalu. Acknowledgement
The raw data along with auxiliary data will be stored at
Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC), Byalalu, for The authors whole-heartedly acknowledge the entire
processing and archiving. The data will be processed and team of Chandrayaan-2 SAR at Space Applications Cen-
calibrated by the data products team at SAC and supplied tre, Ahmedabad, for their contribution, without which this
to the science team for analysis. The processed data, in paper would not have seen the light of the day.
planetary data system (PDS) format, will be archived at
SAC as well as ISSDC to be made available to the scientific
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