Altimetry Over Sea Ice Using Coherent Gnss Reflections

This work is to demonstrate spaceborne altimetry over sea ice using coherent component of reflected Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal. The raw samples of sea ice reflected GNSS signal collected by the UK TechDemoSat-l (TDS-l) mission are processed. Strong coherent components are found in sea ice reflected GNSS signal received in space at different elevation angles, which would make it possible to perform precise surface altimetry measurements using the carrier phase information of the reflected signals. In addition, the coherent reflected signals can be integrated coherently for a longer period to increase the signal to noise ratio, which would make it possible to demonstrate the interferometric GNSS-R (iGNSS-R) altimetry technique in space without very high gain antenna. In this presentation, the altimetric results of coherent GNSS reflections with both carrier phase and code phase will be discussed.