Interferometric radar waveform design and the effective interferometric wavelength

Interferometric radar systems are used by the research, commercial and military communities for applications ranging from topographic mapping to measuring subtle deformations of the Earth's surface for geophysical processes such as earthquakes, volcanoes and ice motion. These systems operate at a variety of wavelengths from 1 cm to 1 m depending on the application. As the number of users of the spectrum increases it is becoming increasingly necessary for these systems to alter their waveforms to have the necessary interoperable compatibility. In particular, notching of certain spectral bands within the radar transmit band may be required to avoid interference with critical users operating in the same band. For high accuracy applications it is necessary to account for how these waveform differences affect the interferometric phase and correlation. We have developed a formula for the effective interferometric wavelength that accounts for the effect of the transmitted waveform on the effective interferometric wavelength and the way the data is processed.