Geometric Error Budget Analysis for TerraSAR-X

The impact of potential error sources on geocoded products has been investigated with respect to the high resolution capabilities of the TerraSAR-X sensor. Datum shift parameters, maps, digital terrain and surface models have been identified as external error sources. The accuracy of the geocoded products depends heavily on the quality and availability of this information, which underlies regional variations. Error sources closely related to the sensor are its position, sampling window start time and Doppler centroid frequency. Another error source is given by atmospheric refraction. Ionospheric and atmospheric path delays have a considerable impact. Appropriate modeling can mitigate this effect. Further, high requirements on radiometric accuracy ask for an improved antenna gain pattern correction, which depends on the actual elevation angle and the terrain height.