Modeling of image formation in multi-spacecraft interferometric imaging systems

In this paper, we develop a detailed model of the process of image formation in Multi-Spacecraft Interferometric Imaging Systems (MSIIS). We show that the Modulation Transfer Function of, and the noise corrupting, the synthesized optical instrument are dependent on the trajectories of the constituent spacecraft and obtain these explicit functional relationships. We show that "good" imaging using MSIIS is equivalent to painting a "large disk" with smaller "paintbrushes" while maintaining a minimum thickness of paint, given that the goal of imaging is the correct classification of the formed images. This implies that the trajectories of the constituent spacecraft have to be "dense" enough in a given region, while making sure that they are "slow" enough. This is illustrated through an example.

Modeling of image formation in multi-spacecraft interferometric imaging systems Academic Article