Advanced SAR Processing for 3D imaging

The concept of three-dimensional imaging of natural targets such as vegetation, snow, ice is drawing more and more attention in the context of scientific applications. For forestry, 3D imagery allows to single out scattering contributions from different forest layers, increasing sensitivity to forest biophysical parameters. For snow and ice, it provides unique information about internal stratigraphy. Key to these applications is the capability to coherently process data from multiple orbits, which calls for innovative signal processing schemes for atmospheric compensation and, in the case of bi- or multi-static acquisitions, robust phase synchronization schemes as well as new methods for designing the acquisitions. In this paper, these aspects will be presented and discussed with reference to the P-Band BIOMASS Mission, to be launched in Spring 2025, and future multistatic missions at higher frequency.