Leads: Stephen Horst (NASA/JPL), Paola Rizzoli (DLR)
SG4 activities include:
Action SG4-1: LSI-VC has been coordinating the development of CEOS Analysis Ready Data (CEOS-ARD) SAR products and specifications since 2018. It has been agreed to transition this activity, which involves the development of new and revised SAR product specifications, to the SAR-VC. Coordination with the development of other CEOS-ARD specifications will be ensured by continued participation in the CEOS-ARD Oversight Group.
Action SG4-2: Interoperability and complementarity of SAR products and services is one of the biggest challenges. SAR-VC will coordinate an assessment of SAR products and services against the CEOS Interoperability Handbook and Maturity Matrix, to inform actions to improve interoperability.
Action SG4-3: Companion satellites for SAR missions are an emerging technique to enable interferometric SAR acquisitions at a lower cost. One example of this is ESA’s Harmony mission, which is planned to fly in formation with Copernicus Sentinel-1D. SAR-VC will undertake an activity to review all current plans for similar missions, and develop a white paper highlighting other opportunities.
Action SG4-4: The wavebands used by SAR are regularly under threat by other sectors, in particular communications, and there is a risk that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reallocates the wavebands used by SAR to other sectors. SAR-VC will monitor the allocation of radar frequencies, and advocate at an international level for the protection of wavebands for SAR, in particular for scientific research.
Action SG4-5: SAR-VC will also explore developing data analysis techniques, such as the role of Artificial/Super Intelligence and Machine Learning, onboard processing, and foundation models.
This subgroup functions as a source of information and requirements for the coordination subgroups 1 and 2.