Evaluation of Radargrammetry DEMs based on TerraSAR-X Staring SpotLight Imagery

For several years the technique of radargrammetry with high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data has been used in scientific and commercial environment for Digital Elevation Modelling (DEM). Compared to repeat pass interferometry, radargrammetry is a robust DEM generation technique for almost all areas on the globe due to phase independent matching algorithms. Particularly in areas with high cloud coverage, SAR systems are the main source to acquire reliable remote sensing
 data. With the current available SAR satellites, the data typically has a ground resolution in the range of a few meters, e.g. 3 m StripMap data from TerraSAR-X used for the Elevation10 DEM product. With the availability of the new sub-meter Staring SpotLight mode for the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites, a new dimension of resolution is available as input for radargrammetric processing. This paper will discuss the results of radargrammetric processing using sub-meter SAR images from TerraSAR-X Staring SpotLight mode.