Exploiting Sentinel-1 data to assess Radio Frequency Interference impact on geosynchronous SAR

The Radio Frequency Interferences (RFI) disturbance is affecting more and more spaceborne SAR missions due to the increasing number of ground emitters transmitting in the frequency band allocated for the Earth Observation. Operative L-band SAR missions such ALOS and SAOCOM already foresee RFI mitigation strategies at processing level. Many cases of RFI contamination have been observed by Sentinel-1 users as well. The RFI issue will be even more problematic for Geosynchronous SAR due to the peculiar acquisitions characteristics. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of the expected impact of C-band RFI on future GEOSAR missions, exploiting RFI maps derived from Sentinel-1 data. The strategy for the calibration of the RFI maps is also discussed.