Spaceborne synthetic aperture passive imaging technology for wide-area electromagnetic spectrum map generation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Current space-based electromagnetic spectrum sensing and imaging methods suffer from several limitations, including inadequate acquisition and characterization of holistic situational information for radiation source clusters, inherent contradiction between field of view and resolution, and insufficient dynamic real-time sensing capability. To address these challenges, this paper innovatively proposes a spaceborne synthetic aperture passive interferometric imaging technology for wide-area electromagnetic spectrum map generation. We establish a system model encompassing "radiation source signal emission - free space propagation - spaceborne synthetic aperture passive interferometric imaging", and analyze the differences between the radiation source signal and the background spontaneous emission during model establishment and synthetic aperture imaging processes in detail. The simulation achieves high-precision, high-resolution, wide-field, real-time direct imaging of terrestrial radiation source electromagnetic spectrum. This article introduces a robust covariance estimation via low-rank approximation (RCEVLA) method, significantly improving phase correction accuracy and positioning accuracy under anomalous signal interference. The main code and a wide-area electromagnetic spectrum dataset generated in this paper have been made publicly available at: https://github.com/Jnhhh1/Main-Code-and-WAES-Dataset.
Source: iScience
Authors: Shunhu Hou, Youchen Fan, Yangyang Wang, Shengliang Fang, Yangyang Wang, Wei Chen
Institutions: Space Engineering University, Anhui University
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,240
OpenAlex ID: W4413812382