Synthetic Aperture Radar

(SAR)

Team 5: Andy Myrick

Steve Hughey
Andrew Renton
Nur Syuhada Zakaria
Sponsor: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Facilitator: Dr. H. Radha
 Outline
 Introduction & Background
 How to do it?
 Antenna Aperture
 Phased Arrays
 How does it work?
 Algorithm
 Principle
 Applications & Alternatives
 Summary
 Synthetic Aperture Radar
 Mostly airborne or space-borne, side-looking radar system
 Utilizes the path traversed by the platform [flight path]
 Simulate a large antenna or aperture electronically
 Generates high-resolution remote sensing imagery

http://www.radartutorial.eu/20.airborne/ab07.en.html
Radar Handbook, Skolnik, M.I. 2008
 History of SAR
 Carl A. Wiley, working at Goodyear Aircraft in
1951 invented SAR during research into ICBM
guidance systems.
 A few months later, University of Illinois and
University of Michigan (UM) researchers
independently developed SAR.
 First SAR imagery produced by UM in 1957.
 SAR research nearly canceled that year because
the quality and resolution of the images weren’t
very impressive.
 In 1957, 50 foot resolution was the goal. Today,
sub-millimeter resolution is being shown in
numerous laboratories.
Image of Haiti after 2010 earthquake taken by ASTER
satellite with 50-foot resolution.
Comparison between 3 foot, 1 foot and 4 inch SAR resolutions
 Magellan Mission to Venus
 Launched – May 4th 1989, Arrived – Aug 10th 1990
 To map the surface of Venus using SAR

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79bX6aYe74I
 Antenna’s “Footprint”
 The beam sent out by the antenna
illuminates an area on the targeted
object
 Known as the antenna’s “footprint”
 The recorded signal strength
depends on the energy back
scattered from the target inside this
footprint

http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/~research/tutorial/mw.htm
 Phased Arrays
 Consider a single antenna whose radiation pattern is given by the
function 𝑅(𝜃, 𝜑)
 If we have N identical antennae in an array, positioned at points
𝑟𝑖 = 𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑖 , 𝑧𝑖
then we can describe the total output Y of the array in terms of
contributions from the individual antennae:
 𝑤𝑖 is the complex weight of element I
 k is the vector in the direction of wave propagation

 Phased arrays have many useful properties, but most

importantly for our purposes they increase the
overall gain of the transmitting/receiving system,
and maximize the SNR

http://www.antenna-theory.com/arrays/arrayfactor.php
SAR analogy with phased arrays
 SAR data collection can be viewed as a virtual
phased array in both space and time
 For a single antenna moving at constant
velocity, position changes linearly with time
 If we assume the target to be stationary during
the period of data collection, the time of
collection is trivial and we wind up with a
virtual phased array in space only

Virtual phased array > high SNR/large amount of coupled power > good target
characterization!
 Antenna Apertures & Arrays
More energy collected
More gain compared to isotropic
Larger Aperture More SNR
Longer Array Narrower half-power beam width
Greater angular resolution
More elements

Uses one antenna in time-multiplex

to operate similar to phased array

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/
General SAR System

 Pulse generation creates pulses with a bandwidth according to the range

resolution
 Sender amplifies the pulses and transfer it to the antenna via circulator
 Receivers amplifies the output signal of antenna and applies a band pass filter
 After the demodulation and A/D conversion, the SAR processor calculates the
SAR image
 Radar control unit arranges the operation sequence particularly the time
schedule
http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/EN/RTO-EN-SET-086///EN-SET-086-03.pdf
SAR Imaging Algorithm
Flight Path Hilbert Calibration
vs. Range Transform Matrix
Data

2D inverse Stolt Matched

DFT Migration Filter

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/
SAR Principle
 A radar sensor on the x-axis
transmits a short pulse and receives
the echoes
 SAR system stores the received signal
in 2-dimensional array containing
range, time, and radar position info
 Echoes superpose each other and
result in the recorded data column,
which contains a range profile

http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/EN/RTO-EN-SET-086///EN-SET-086-03.pdf
SAR Principle
 3 point targets are given at different
positions
 The antenna moves in steps along
the x-direction taking data samples
 A hyperbolic range history in the
data results for each reflector,
indicated by the curves
 Points will be generated in a second
data array at the positions of the
hyperbola vertex
 The signal intensity of the individual
echoes, resulting from the reflectivity
of the scene, controls the brightness
of the points in the second data
array, an image of the scene results

*point target – small object with reflectivity assumed to be at one discrete point
http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/EN/RTO-EN-SET-086///EN-SET-086-03.pdf
 SAR vs. Optical Remote Sensing
Optical Remote Sensing
 Independent of sun illumination
 Not affected atmospheric particles
 Accurate distance measurement
 Subsurface penetration
 Sensitivity to:
 dielectric properties (water content,
biomass, ice)
 surface roughness (ocean, wind, speed)
 man-made objects
 target structure (structural details)

http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/international/events/Cao_Zong-Jie.pdf
http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/~research/tutorial/optical.htm
 Applications of SAR
Military Surveillance and Targeting 3D Imaging

Optical image of M-47 tanks

 Use 2 antennas on same air craft
or make 2 passes offset in space
 Low-frequency (10 MHz – 1 GHz)
SAR can penetrate the ground and
optically opaque materials

Aerial SAR image of M-47 tanks

http://www.sandia.gov/RADAR/sarapps.html
Radar Handbook, Skolnik, M.I. 2008
 Environment Protection Urban Construction

Oil spill segmentation result Road network extraction, Guan Xian, China

Other Applications
Natural Disaster Monitoring Agricultural Survey

Flood monitoring, Targus river, Portugal Soil moisture of an agricultural filed

http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/international/events/Cao_Zong-Jie.pdf
 Backyard SAR by MITLL
Type : Rail
Aircraft Image on the
Styrofoam Table

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/
Summary
 SAR is mostly airborne or space borne
 Used to capture the image of earth’s surface
 Works similar to phased antennas
 How it works?
 Algorithm
 Principle
 Applications & Alternatives

QUESTIONS?