Topographic Monitoring over Land Surface using Radar Altimeter

In this paper, the radar altimeter for topographic mapping over land is introduced and the characteristics of the return signals are analyzed. The radar system is described briefly and the requirements to get the fine resolution of the terrain surface height are considered. The designed radar altimeter was tested on the landscape in the near of Stuttgart. The measured data shows very fine profile of the test landscape and the height errors induced from different geometrical structure of the land surface are acquired in the measurement. In the test area, most characteristics of radar return signals over land could be tested and the results of the topographic mapping using our radar altimeter can be used for future radar altimeter development for land applications.