IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2023 - 153

(a)
(b)
FIGURE 6. A practical laboratory exercise for students. (a) Master's student Aston Taylor configuring the vector network analyzer and
(b) measurements of corner reflector distances and sensitivity.
a drone antenna [Figure 6(a) and (b)]. The horizontal distance
to the corner reflector was measured with a reflector,
which the students constructed.
The day of radar foundational principles concluded with a
lecture transitioning into SAR. Dr. Michelangelo Villano delivered
an in-person lecture on SAR principles, consolidating
concepts of radar functionality, resolution, the principle
of a synthetic aperture, radar measurement, and data acquisition
as well as the principles of range and azimuth
compression. The lecture also addressed image distortions
such as foreshortening and layover. This set the stage for
the following day, which would focus entirely on SAR.
DAY 2: ALL-DAY SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR!
Day two continued with Dr. Villano teaching a full day on
SAR [Figure 7(a) and (b)]. The morning was dedicated to
in-person lectures, while the afternoon transitioned into
hands-on practical teaching sessions. The first lecture addressed
SAR processing fundamentals, covering the SAR
impulse response, the SAR transfer function, derivations
related to the orbital geometry of SAR, ground and effective
velocities, range history approximations, monochromatic
SAR image formation, polychromatic SAR image
formation, motion and orbit compensation algorithms,
and multilooking.
During Session 2, the focus shifted to SAR imaging
modes, encompassing a range of standard SAR operation
modes like ScanSAR and Spotlight, alongside techniques
like azimuth phase coding. The session extended
to more advanced concepts, including the implementation
of beam steering. SAR data flow, impulse response
function, range cell migration, window functions, and
speckle were also covered.
The afternoon was composed of two workshops designed
to provide students with practical insights into the
real-world implications of the lecture content. The initial
workshop, led by Dr. Villano, took the form of a computerbased
session aimed at deepening the understanding of
DECEMBER 2023 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 7. Dr. Michelangelo Villano teaching SAR principles and
practice. (a) laboratory workshop and (b) lecture.
153
SAR fundamentals. The workshop covered range and azimuth
signals and compression as well as the processing of
raw data to produce the SAR image. The exercises required
changing signal, system, and processing parameters and
observing the impact on output plots.
The second workshop centered on SAR instrument
parameters, designed to familiarize the students with the
basic parameters of timing, range and azimuth ambiguities,
SNR, minimum antenna area constraints, their relationship
to typical SAR requirements, and their impact on
the system design. The workshop also explicitly assessed
how the antenna pattern impacts performance in relation
to the aforementioned parameters.
DAY 3: SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR CONCLUDES,
AND SIGNALS OF OPPORTUNITY BEGINS
The third technical day commenced with two lectures to
conclude the SAR portion of the curriculum. Dr. Scott
Hensley delivered virtual presentations on SAR instruments
and missions followed by SAR interferometry. The
lecture on SAR instruments and missions encompassed
not only airborne and spaceborne Earth-observing

IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2023

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