System and method for measuring ocean surface currents at locations remote from land masses using synthetic aperture radar

US4990922A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration · US

Inventors

• Lawrence E. Young · Tustin, US
• Jeffrey M. Srinivasan · Glendale, US
• Thomas Meehan · Glendale, US
• Timothy Munson · La Cañada Flintridge, US
• George H. Purcell, Jr. · Pasadena, US
• Jess Brooks Thomas, Jr. · Tustin, US
• Courtney B. Duncan · Tustin, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 14, 1990
• Grant date: Feb 5, 1991
• Expiry date: Mar 14, 2010

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01S19/53
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

This is a system for measuring ocean surface currents from an airborne platform. A radar system having two spaced antennas wherein one antenna is driven and return signals from the ocean surface are detected by both antennas is employed to get raw ocean current data which is saved for later processing. There are a pair of GPS systems including a first antenna carried by the platform at a first location and a second antenna carried by the platform at a second location displaced from the first antenna for determining the position of the antennas from signals from orbiting GPS navigational satellites. This data is also saved for later processing. The saved data is subsequently processed by a ground-based computer system to determine the position, orientation, and velocity of the platform as well as to derive measurements of currents on the ocean surface.