Synthetic RAW data generator for ESA HARMONY mission

TL;DR

This paper presents HEEPS/MARE, a high-performance simulator for ESA's Harmony mission, capable of generating realistic raw SAR data of ocean surfaces to aid in mission planning and data analysis.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel, efficient raw data generator for the Harmony mission, incorporating heterogeneous sea-surface modeling and multi-GPU implementation for large-scale simulations.

Findings

Successful simulation of large, heterogeneous oceanic areas

High-performance multi-GPU implementation achieved

Sample results demonstrate capability to map wind and surface currents

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce HEEPS/MARE, the end-to-end simulator developed for the SAR oceanographic products of ESA Earth Explorer 10 mission, Harmony, expected to launch in Decembre 2029. Harmony is primarily dedicated to the observation of small-scale motion and deformation fields of the Earth surface (oceans, glaciers and ice sheets, solid Earth), thanks to passive SAR/ATI receivers carried by two companion satellites for Sentinel-1. The paper focuses on the raw data generator designed to efficiently simulate large, heterogeneous, moving oceanic areas and produce the acquired SAR/ATI bistatic IQ signals. The heterogeneous sea-surface model, bistatic scattering model, multi-GPU implementation and achieved performance are emphasized. Finally, sample results are presented, to illustrate the ability of Harmony to map wind and surface current vectors at kilometric scale.