IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2013 - 6

A Tutorial on
Synthetic
Aperture
Radar

Alberto Moreira, Pau Prats-Iraola, Marwan Younis,
Gerhard Krieger, Irena Hajnsek,
and Konstantinos P. Papathanassiou
Microwaves and Radar Institute of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany

Abstract-Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been
widely used for Earth remote sensing for more than 30
years. It provides high-resolution, day-and-night and
weather-independent images for a multitude of applications ranging from geoscience and climate change research,
environmental and Earth system monitoring, 2-D and 3-D
mapping, change detection, 4-D mapping (space and time),
security-related applications up to planetary exploration.
With the advances in radar technology and geo/bio-physical parameter inversion modeling in the 90s, using data
from several airborne and spaceborne systems, a paradigm
shift occurred from the development driven by the technology push to the user demand pull. Today, more than 15
spaceborne SAR systems are being operated for innumerous applications. This paper provides first a tutorial about
the SAR principles and theory, followed by an overview of
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2013.2248301
Date of publication: 17 April 2013

6

2168-6831/13/$31.00©2013IEEE

©ŠDLR

established techniques like polarimetry, interferometry
and differential interferometry as well as of emerging techniques (e.g., polarimetric SAR interferometry, tomography
and holographic tomography). Several application examples including the associated parameter inversion modeling
are provided for each case. The paper also describes innovative technologies and concepts like digital beamforming, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and bi- and
multi-static configurations which are suitable means to fulfill the increasing user requirements. The paper concludes
with a vision for SAR remote sensing.
I. Introduction
ynthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has entered into a
golden age. More than 15 spaceborne SAR sensors
are being operated today and 10 new SAR systems will
be launched within the next 5 years. SAR is unique in
its imaging capability: It provides high-resolution twodimensional images independent from daylight, cloud

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