Abstract Coastal salinity is characterised by large and variable salinity contrasts on relatively small scales. Measurements of salinity at a resolution compatible with these coastal regions on a regular basis would provide a rich source of information that could be used for a number of applications that have a fundamental bearing on the world’s lifestyle. Doppler radiometry offers an approach to capture such measurements, as it reduces the number of required antennas needed to form an image, compared with an Interferometer type instrument. In this work, a Doppler Radiometer type instrument on free-flying satellites is introduced. This approach removes the need for a physical connection between all the antennas, affords the system a degree of reconfigurability, yet is still able to provide data of sufficient resolution. A Y-shaped central hub (similar to the SMOS configuration) is employed with additional antennas mounted on free flying platforms surrounding the central hub. The additional baselines formed between the antennas of the free flying satellites and central hub as well as between the free flying satellites extend the u–v coverage beyond that of just the central hub. The spatial resolution of a Doppler Radiometer system with a Y-shaped hub with a SMOS configuration of antennas, with each arm extended by five 6m spaced free flying antennas would be of the order of 5km, when imaging from 800km. This paper will present some initial results from a study into an instrument concept that could provide coastal salinity measurements at microwave wavelengths. The study focuses on antenna array design and on quantifying the improvement in spatial resolution available by using this method, and includes an investigation into the effects of the relative motion between the hub and the free flying satellites on the imaging. Further, whilst this paper focuses on the application of the Doppler Radiometer to salinity measurement, the techniques described are applicable to other applications of a passive microwave instruments.