A Look at Spotlight Extended Dwell – A New Level of Information Content from Small-Satellite SAR

ICEYE operates the first and largest commercial small-satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation offering all-weather, day-and-night Earth observation capabilities. This paper introduces a new collection mode, called spotlight extended dwell. In dwell mode, the satellite continuously illuminates a spot on the ground for 25 seconds. The extremely long imaging duration increases the information content of the SAR data and allows for many interesting applications. We illustrate the potential of dwell mode data products, such as the colorized subaperture image and SAR video. The provided examples show the potential of improved moving target detection, sea surface monitoring, and building damage assessment using these data products.