RADARSAT Constellation Mission

Daniel De Lisle

on behalf of Steve Iris (RCM Mission Manager)

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RCM Key Mission Drivers• Continuity of C-Band SAR for Operational Users• Improved revisit over wide areas• Responsive Ground Segment (tasking and

latency)• Smaller, more cost efficient satellite development• Improved reliability (i.e. redundancy and

scalability)• Evolution to wider Operational use• Government-owned and operated

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Core Use Areas

Maritime Surveillance Disaster ManagementEnvironmental Monitoring

• Ice & Iceberg Monitoring

• Pollution Monitoring• Vessel Detection

– Including AIS• Marine Winds

• Forestry• Protected Areas &

Wildlife Habitat• Agriculture• Wetlands• Coastal Change

• Flood Monitoring• Windstorms• Earthquakes• Landslides• Volcanic Activity• Permafrost

User & Science TeamThe U&ST was formed at the early stage of the project (2005-phase A) to engage end user department to ensure requirements would be addressed and capture in the mission development.

User Requirements DocumentU&ST primary work was to develop the URD including inputs from Canadian Government Departments stakeholders.

Mission Requirements DocumentURD was used as the input to the development of the MRD. This hi-level document is keeping updated to ensure that the end-to-end system meets the mission objectives and user requirements.

Users involvement

Application Geographic Coverage

Revisit Resolution End Use

Ice and iceberg monitoring

Great LakesCoastal zones (3 oceans)Shipping lanes

Daily Medium Ice charts

Marine winds Great LakesCoastal zones (2 oceans)

Twice daily Low Marine weather and weather forecasting

Oil pollution Shipping lanesCoastal zones

Daily Medium ISTOP (Marine pollution) programSpill response

Ship detection 1200nm (above 42˚ N) Daily or better Medium to high Domain awareness product

Forestry Forest areas of Canada Annual Medium State of the forest report

Protected areas and wildlife habitat

Parks and sensitive areas

Annual Medium to High Change map

Agriculture Cultivated land in Canada

Weekly (seasonal)

Medium (30m) Crop classification, crop yield products, tillage practice product

Wetlands Wetlands in Canada Annual Medium to High Change map

Coastal change Coastlines3% highly sensitive

Monthly Low to Medium Change map

User requirements summary

Imaging Modes

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Imaging Modes

1 Even if there is no requirement on Quad-Pol mode, here is the performance currently estimated by MDA:- range resolution : 8m (approximately)- azimuth resolution : 6m- swath width : 20km- accessible swath : 250km centring on 35 deg. incidence- NESZ : <-25dB 

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Ice Monitoring

ArcticWeekly – Dec.- MayDaily – June – Nov.

Inland LakesWeekly – Oct. to June

GL, East Coast & Nfld.Daily – Dec. - August

West Coast

Daily -- Year Round

GL & East Coast

Daily -- June-November

ArcticDaily -- June – Nov.Open Water Areas

Oil Pollution

West Coast

Daily -- Year Round

GL & East Coast

Daily -- May-November

ArcticDaily -- June – Nov.Open Water Areas

Marine Winds Ships Detection

Maritime Operational User Needs Coverage Areas

Average Daily Coverage of Marine AOIs

Accessibility with 3 satellites of Cdn marine zones at Medium 50m resolution

4-day coverage of AAFC AOIs with all ascending passes using the Med Res 30m mode.

Standard Coverage Concept• Issue

– Large geographic and temporal overlaps in Users and Applications requirements

– Various preferred imaging modes

• Approach– Analyse User imaging requirements spatially and

temporally over the annual cycle to determine a "feasible" imaging plan, with agreed upon compromises in overlapping zones

• Result Standard Coverage– Collections of data acquired routinely in harmonized and

de-conflicted imaging modes intended to optimize and maximize the utility of the data across all User requirements

Simulated Standard Coverage for maritime surveillance

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Coherent Change Detection

• Short-period (4-day) Coherent Change Detection (CCD) will be a unique capability

• ScanSAR (125 km) and Stripmap (25 km) modes optimized for CCD• Requires tight Orbital Tube maintenance 100 to 200 m

specification

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Compact PolarizationSea Ice Characterization

Incidence angle

20 25 30 35 40 45 50

o R

H (

dB

)

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5Thin iceFYIFYI roughMYIOcean

m- CompositeSea Ice Typing

RH vs

Source: CCRS & EC-CIS

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Compact PolarizationAgriculture

Crop Classification

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Pasture Soybean Corn Wheat Pasture Soybean Corn Wheat

HH,VV

Stokes VectorsF

m- Composite

ClassificationSeasonal Results

HH & VV CP parameters

Source: AAFC &CCRS

Classes of Products• Raw Products

– Raw Radar data in FRED format

• Image Products– Processed SAR images– Variety of processing levels

• single-look complex products, • multi-looked power-detected geo-referenced products• geo-coded products

– Include a “Doppler Grid” with 2 km spacing– Same format as RADARSAT-2: GeoTIFF images with xml meta-data

• Information Products– Ship detection products: xml files with

• Time, Location, Confidence measure, Estimated RCS and length

System Products

• Global Access: Can image anywhere except an area within 1500 km of the south pole (right-looking only)

• Global Revisit: 24 hours on average (any point can be imaged 12 times in 12 days)

• Real-time downlink over Canadian maritime areas of interest• Most products ready for delivery within minutes of downlink to a

Canadian Data Reception Facility• Capability to downlink data acquired over Canadian Maritime Areas of

Interest within 3 hours of acquisition outside Canadian station mask• Capability to downlink data acquired over Canadian Land Areas of

Interest within 2 hours of acquisition• Products available within 48 hours of receipt of an order for an

acquisition anywhere in the world• Fast tasking: 4 hours

Access, Throughput and Latency

Data PolicyRCM Priority Roles• Serve public interest by responding to requirements of

Canadian government departments and Canadian non-commercial users

• Pursue commercial thrust for data distribution and value-added services

• Support science and applications development by industry and academia

• Monitoring long term scientific phenomena

RCM focuses on operational users for which

“Standard Coverages” will be defined

Data Policy ConsiderationsRegulation• RCM is subject to the Cdn Remote Sensing Space Systems Act

(RSSSA) which will determine what data may become public and who can access RCM data more generally.

Within limitations of the RSSSA and other security elements:

• Standard Coverages serve all operational users– Most of their data would become public

• RCM Archives are intended to be Free and Open, accessible on-line through an on-line catalogue (except for commercial and sensitive data)

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Data Utilization & Applications Plan

•Ensure Optimum use of the data when system becomes operational for Canadian Government Users

•Facilitate the integration of RCM data into existing operational applications of RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2.

•Support the integration of RCM data into applications that have been demonstrated to the point where they are fully integrated into the operations of OGDs in support of their mandates

•Support science, research and development activities for potential new applications or improve existing ones.

•Facilitate the utilisation and access to data, product and services produced by RCM to users.

International Collaboration: RCM – Sentinel-1

• GoC Users want easier access to multiple SAR missions Both missions are C-Band SARs at the same frequency

• Collaboration could improve GoC Users coverage, reduce latencies, and provide complementary data/modes

• Simplified access and synergy with Sentinel-1 could alleviate potential data acquisition conflicts within RCM

• Collaboration would maximize the use – and potential benefit to respective Users – of both RCM and Sentinel-1 data

RCM – Sentinel-1 Collaboration

The following collaborative activities are currently explored:• Joint / integrated pre-defined acquisition plans(complementarities in observations / modes, increased revisit, etc.)• Level 1 Product format• Harmonization of catalogue interface• Development of common tools• Harmonized communication, joint publications etc.• Joint calibration working group is being set up

Summary

• RADARSAT Constellation Mission is designed to continue/enhance the use of SAR to support Government of Canada operations as well as internationally

• Support to government users for application development

• Compact Polarization , Multi-pass/Frequent Revisit and 4-day CCD provide opportunities for new information and applications

• Opportunities for synergy and collaboration with Sentinel-1 are being pursued seriously

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Thank You !