Signal Model and Influence Analysis of Spaceborne SAR Images in the Presence of Mutual Terrain-Scattered Interference

Since the development of satellite technology and limited spectrum resources, more and more spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems share the same frequency band. For this reason, a new form of radio frequency interference (RFI), i.e., mutual terrain scattering interference (MTSI), will be occurred between different spaceborne SARs in the case of overlapping time, space, and frequency, seriously degrading the imaging quality. This paper investigates the signal model and impact of spaceborne SAR images in the presence of MTSI. We first established a geometric model of the interference propagation path, from which the mechanism of interference is analyzed, and derive the signal model and energy of echoes. Then, simulated experiments using RADARSAT images are provided to illustrate the relationship between various radar parameters and resulting interference artifacts, which could be beneficial for interference identification and mitigation.