A Flexible Baseline Measuring System Based on Optics for Airborne DPOS.

Area of Science:

• Aerial remote sensing
• Geomatics engineering
• Optical metrology

Background:

• Three-dimensional imaging using multi-node interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is advancing aerial remote sensing.
• Accurate motion compensation is crucial for InSAR, relying on multi-node motion information.
• Wing deformation in aerial platforms alters the relative spatial relationship of sensor nodes, degrading transfer alignment accuracy and impacting imaging quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel flexible baseline measuring system for multi-node InSAR.
• To address the challenge of modeling wing deformation in aerial remote sensing platforms.
• To enhance the accuracy of motion compensation and improve the imaging quality of InSAR systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of a non-contact optical measurement system for flexible baseline determination.
• Integration of the optical system with distributed position and orientation systems (DPOS) for InSAR applications.
• Laboratory-based accuracy testing under static and dynamic conditions.

Main Results:

• The proposed optical system enables non-contact measurement of the flexible baseline.
• It effectively overcomes the limitations of complex wing deformation modeling.
• Laboratory tests demonstrated high measurement accuracy: <0.3 mm (static) and <0.67 mm (dynamic).

Conclusions:

• The flexible baseline measuring system significantly improves the accuracy of motion compensation in multi-node InSAR.
• This technology enhances interferometric phase error compensation, leading to superior aerial remote sensing imaging quality.
• The non-contact optical approach offers a practical solution for managing baseline variations caused by platform deformation.