天宫二号干涉成像雷达高度计的基线倾角反演

Inversion of the Baseline Incline Angle for Tiangong-2 Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter

天宫二号干涉成像雷达高度计是国际上第一个采用小入射角和短基线干涉测量技术实现宽刈幅海面高度测量的高度计。利用其在拓展试验中获取的星下点干涉回波进行干涉相位处理,进而根据几何关系对干涉基线的倾角进行了反演,并将反演结果与平台测量的横滚角进行了对比以验证利用干涉相位进行干涉基线倾角测量的技术。天宫二号平台姿态是相对于地心来进行控制的,而从干涉回波反演出的基线倾角是相对于地表的。由于地球是一个椭球体,因此反演得到的基线倾角与平台测量的横滚角两者之间存在一个与轨道有关的系统偏差,经校正后得到了符合预期的结果:两者测量的横滚角变化趋势以及标准差均相符合。

Tiangong-2 Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter(InIRA)is the first wide-swath radar altimeter adopting small incidences angles with short baseline.The knowledge of the roll angle of the baseline is crucial for measuring the wide-swath Sea Surface Height(SSH)with centimeter-level accuracy.In this work,we aim to validate the technique of baseline angle determination from spaceborne nadir interferometric echoes which has been tested by airborne experiment.According to the observation geometry,the interferometric phases of nadir echoes acquired by Tiangong-2 Imaging Radar Altimeter(InIRA)are related to the roll angle of the baseline,so it should be possible for us to retrieve the incline angle from the interferometric phases under some ocean conditions not so high.In order to do so,the Tiangong-2 was tilted about 5°so as to realize a 0°baseline and in this way,a lot of data was collected.In this paper,we present the retrieved roll angles and compare them with the measured angles by the platform.Due to the Earth is an ellipsoid,and the control of the Tiangong-2 is referring to the Earth center,while the retrieved roll angle is referring to the nadir point on the Earth surface,there is a systematic error related to the orbit,and after calibration of which,the expected results are obtained:two measurements agree with each other very well not only for the measured trend but also for the standard bias between them.