Space-based Sub-THz ISAR for space situational awareness – concept and design

Emidio Marchetti; Andrew Stove; Edward Hoare; Mike Cherniakov; David Blacknell; Marina Gashinova

doi:10.1109/TAES.2021.3126375

Space-based Sub-THz ISAR for space situational awareness – concept and design

Emidio Marchetti, Andrew Stove, Edward Hoare, Mike Cherniakov, David Blacknell , Marina Gashinova

Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

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Abstract

The concept of sub-terahertz (sub-THz) imaging and recognition of space objects by a satellite based inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) is proposed and analyzed in this paper. Operation at sub-THz frequencies in the band 200 GHz - 400 GHz benefits from wide available bandwidth, high sensitivity to surface texture and very small target features, and requires an antenna of small physical size. A feasibility study is presented based on use case scenarios of the relative motion of monitoring satellite and observed objects. Expected resolutions, power budget and oscillator stability requirements in this frequency band are discussed. Image formation methods are proposed and evaluated with simulations. A simple electromagnetic modeling capability is proposed to create a comprehensive dataset of sub-THz ISAR images, with the orientation and aspect angles seen by the sensors, which can be used to train semantic classifiers.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE US
Early online date	22 Nov 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TAES.2021.3126375
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 22 Nov 2021

Keywords

Spaceborne radar
Satellites
Radar
Radar imaging
Space vehicles
Image resolution
Radar tracking

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10.1109/TAES.2021.3126375Licence: None: All rights reserved

MarchettiE2021Space
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAES.2021.3126375, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. © 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Accepted author manuscript, 1.28 MBLicence: Other (please specify with Rights Statement)

10 MHz to 1.1 THz Vector Network Analyser
Constantinou, C., Lancaster, M., Gashinova, M., Gardner, P., Wang, Y. & Hanham, S.
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council
1/09/17 → 31/08/23
Project: Research Councils

Cite this

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title = "Space-based Sub-THz ISAR for space situational awareness – concept and design",

abstract = "The concept of sub-terahertz (sub-THz) imaging and recognition of space objects by a satellite based inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) is proposed and analyzed in this paper. Operation at sub-THz frequencies in the band 200 GHz - 400 GHz benefits from wide available bandwidth, high sensitivity to surface texture and very small target features, and requires an antenna of small physical size. A feasibility study is presented based on use case scenarios of the relative motion of monitoring satellite and observed objects. Expected resolutions, power budget and oscillator stability requirements in this frequency band are discussed. Image formation methods are proposed and evaluated with simulations. A simple electromagnetic modeling capability is proposed to create a comprehensive dataset of sub-THz ISAR images, with the orientation and aspect angles seen by the sensors, which can be used to train semantic classifiers. ",

keywords = "Spaceborne radar, Satellites, Radar, Radar imaging, Space vehicles, Image resolution, Radar tracking",

author = "Emidio Marchetti and Andrew Stove and Edward Hoare and Mike Cherniakov and David Blacknell and Marina Gashinova",

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doi = "10.1109/TAES.2021.3126375",

language = "English",

journal = "IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE US",

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AU - Marchetti, Emidio

AU - Stove, Andrew

AU - Hoare, Edward

AU - Cherniakov, Mike

AU - Blacknell , David

AU - Gashinova, Marina

PY - 2021/11/22

Y1 - 2021/11/22

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AB - The concept of sub-terahertz (sub-THz) imaging and recognition of space objects by a satellite based inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) is proposed and analyzed in this paper. Operation at sub-THz frequencies in the band 200 GHz - 400 GHz benefits from wide available bandwidth, high sensitivity to surface texture and very small target features, and requires an antenna of small physical size. A feasibility study is presented based on use case scenarios of the relative motion of monitoring satellite and observed objects. Expected resolutions, power budget and oscillator stability requirements in this frequency band are discussed. Image formation methods are proposed and evaluated with simulations. A simple electromagnetic modeling capability is proposed to create a comprehensive dataset of sub-THz ISAR images, with the orientation and aspect angles seen by the sensors, which can be used to train semantic classifiers.

KW - Spaceborne radar

KW - Satellites

KW - Radar

KW - Radar imaging

KW - Space vehicles

KW - Image resolution

KW - Radar tracking

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DO - 10.1109/TAES.2021.3126375

M3 - Article

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JF - IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE US

ER -

Space-based Sub-THz ISAR for space situational awareness – concept and design

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Keywords

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Projects

10 MHz to 1.1 THz Vector Network Analyser

Cite this