Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime

Transport

College of Engineering and Technology

Electronics & Communication

12th Report

Synthetic Aperture Radar Applications

Presented By:

Ahmed Sherif

Supervised By:

Dr. Mohamed Abo-El-Dahab

D e c e m b e r – 2 0 2 2
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Dr. Mohamed Abo-El-
Dahab for his effort in lecturing me through this course.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................II

LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS................................................................III

1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................

2 SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR..........................................................................

2.1 What is SAR?.........................................................................................................

2.2 SAR after Real Aperture Radar..........................................................................
2.3 SAR Image Interpretation....................................................................................

3 SAR APPLICATIONS.............................................................................................................

3.1 Interferometric SAR.....................................................................................................10

3.2 Polarimetric SAR...........................................................................................................14

4 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................

5 REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1:. Electromagnetic spectrum..............................................................................2

Figure 2.2: Imaging Radar Geometry................................................................................3
Figure 2.3: Synthetic Aperture Generation.......................................................................3
Figure 2.4: Foreshortening Geometry...............................................................................4

Figure 2.5: Layover Geometry. 5

Figure 2.6: SAR Scattering Image Interpretation..............................................................5
Figure 2.7: Examples of Geometric Effects in SAR Imagery...........................................6
Figure 2.8: Example of distortion of buildings in urban setting .......................................6

Figure 2.9: Radar Penetration by Frequency 7

Figure 2.10: Surface roughness scattering.........................................................................8
Figure 2.11: Dihedral scattering .......................................................................................8
Figure 2.12: Speckle noise reduction effect......................................................................9

Figure 3.1: Fringes interferogram:. 10

Figure 3.2: Image SLC matching....................................................................................11
Figure 3.3: LOS in InSAR...............................................................................................12
Figure 3.4: Decorrelation in fringes................................................................................13

Figure 3.5: Cross section spheroid. 13

Figure 3.6: Polarization parameters.................................................................................14
Figure 3.7: Arbitrary polarization combination possibilities..........................................15
Figure 3.8: Elliptical and linear polarization...................................................................16

Figure 3.9: Vertical and horizontal polarization 16

Figure 3.10: Ranges.........................................................................................................16
Figure 3.11: On land coverage........................................................................................17

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 LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS
SAR Synthetic aperture radar

RADAR Radio detection and ranging

RAR Real aperture radar

DEM Digital elevation model

SLC Single look complex

GPS Global positioning system

SRTM The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

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 Chapter One

1 INTRODUCTION

Early in the 1950s, the synthetic aperture radar principle was found. Since then, the
globe has experienced fast growth, and a few airborne and space-borne devices are
already in use. Technology and digital signal processing advancements have produced
highly adaptable systems that are suitable for both military and commercial purposes.

Radar has demonstrated its value in the past due to its capacity to operate day and night
and its potential to see through clouds and rain. However, optical tools offered
significant advantages in the understanding of items shown. The resolution that real
aperture radar systems can achieve in the cross-range direction is constrained by the
large wavelength of radar signals.

Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), a type of radar, is used to map things in two dimensions
and rebuild them in three. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is now a critical component of
military earth observation and ground surveillance. A few SAR systems have been
created since the late 1980s for both airborne and space operations. When compared to
rival infrared or visible-spectrum sensors, the radar's core idea has advantages.

Radio Detection and Ranging is referred to as RADAR. It is appropriate for a wide

range of applications, including storm tracking, roadway vehicle speed detection, and
air traffic control, thanks to its capacity to calculate range and motion. Radar is also
employed as a kind of active imaging in which an antenna emits microwave radiation
pulses.

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 Chapter Two

2 SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR

2.1) What is SAR?

Synthetic aperture radar is the practice of generating an image using radio waves. The
radio waves used in SAR typically have wavelengths between 3 cm and a few meters,
which is significantly longer than the wavelength of visible light used in optical
imaging. These wavelengths are shown to be within the microwave region of the
spectrum in the diagram below.

Figure 2.1: Electromagnetic spectrum

Radar is an active system, which generates its own radio waves and transmits them from
its antenna, toward a target. Depending on the target properties and the imaging
geometry, the radar antenna will receive all, some, or none of the radio wave’s energy.
This received signal will travel for an amount of time proportional to the target’s
distance from the antenna.

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 Figure 2.2: Imaging Radar Geometry

2.2) SAR after Real Aperture Radar

In "real aperture radar," the range resolution is determined by the pulse width that is
transmitted from the antenna. The azimuth resolution is determined by the width of the
imprint of the beam on the ground, and the beam width is inversely related to antenna
length. A large beamwidth is matched by a small antenna length. Spatial resolution in
the azimuth direction is constrained because orbiting a large enough antenna would be
too expensive to provide an acceptable azimuth resolution. The Synthetic Aperture
Radar, a new generation of imaging radars, was created as a result of the development
of better processing algorithms, which addressed this issue. As shown in Figure 2.3, the
motion of the antenna along the azimuthal direction is used to "synthesize" or create the
appearance of a long antenna in order to reduce the undesirable effects of real aperture
radar's poor azimuth resolution.

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 Figure 2.3: Synthetic Aperture Generation

This synthesising process is feasible because a scatterer (target) on the ground remains
within the real-aperture radar beam for a number of radar pulses. Higher spatial
resolution in the azimuth direction is possible by synthesising a large antenna with a
significantly narrower beamwidth by properly adding up the reflections from each of
these pulses. Both airborne and spaceborne systems can use this method.

2.3) SAR Image Interpretation

While a recognisable terrain map can be created using the SAR photos, there are
substantial differences between optical and SAR photographs. Since SAR imaging does
not resemble an optical image that people are accustomed to viewing, it is categorised
as non-literal imagery. To carry out proper image interpretation, as shown in Figure 2.6
later, these components must be understood.

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2.3.1) Foreshortening

Because SAR is a side-looking ranging device, hence the placement of the

backscattered returns in the image depends on how far away the target is from the
antenna along the slant plane (radar-image plane). This results in some visually
interesting geometric
aberrations.

Figure 2.4: Foreshortening Geometry

The radar signal reaches point B just after point A in time, as can be seen in Figure 2.4,
compressing the slope A-B in the slant plane. This makes a tall, sloping object—like a
mountain—appear steeper and gives it the appearance of having a thin, bright "edge."
Be aware that foreshortening is influenced by the look angle of the sensor; a larger look
angle will lessen the effect.

2.3.2) Shadowing

Shadowing happens for the same reason that shadows do in optical imagery: something
blocks the direct radiation path, which in SAR is the radar beam and in optical imaging
is the visible light. A SAR shadow contains no information because there is no return
signal, in contrast to optical imaging, which can detect objects in shadows due to
atmospheric scattering.

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2.3.3) Layover

Layover is a severe case of foreshortening in which the object is so tall that point B is
reached by the radar signal before point A. As a result, the returns from point B are
positioned on the image closer to the sensor (near range), obscuring point A and giving
the impression that the mountain's top has been superimposed on its base.

Figure 2.5: Layover Geometry

Figure 2.6: SAR Scattering Image Interpretation

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 Figure 2.7: Examples of Geometric Effects in SAR Imagery

The effects of these phenomena are altered depending on the sensor’s look angle. A
larger look angle increases the effect of shadows, while minimizing the effect of layover
(less layover).

Figure 2.8: Example of distortion of buildings in

urban setting

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2.4) Pixel Brightness

There is a misconception that a radar image is a monochromatic visual image. The

number of pixels in a radar image does not determine an object's colour (as in a colour
photograph). Instead, the material characteristics, physical characteristics, viewing
angle, and amount of energy transmitted by the SAR sensor—which is comparable to
the brightness of the light source—determine the intensity.

2.4.1) Sensor & Surface Parameters

Engineers create and model the system and operational settings to optimise radar returns
utilising sensor parameters and the data gathered against predetermined targets. The
system's wavelength and polarisation (discussed below) are chosen during design and
cannot be changed after launch. These fixed sensor characteristics have some effect on a
pixel's brightness in a particular image. As shown in Figure 2.9, the wavelength
influences azimuth resolution as well as penetration.

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 Figure 2.9: Radar Penetration by Frequency

Surface characteristics that influence pixel brightness include surface roughness in

relation to system wavelength and scattering material (the dielectric constant of the
object). If the material's surface roughness is low in respect to the system wavelength,
the radar beam will be reflected (Figure 2.10) according to the law of reflection. The
technical word for this is specular reflection. If the surface is rough in relation to the
system wavelength, the radar beam scatters in all directions. This is referred to
technically as diffuse scattering. Different levels of surface roughness result in different
levels of diffuse scattering and pixel brightness. A physical characteristic that
determines how reflective a substance is to electromagnetic waves is the scattering
material's dielectric constant.

Figure 2.11: Dihedral scattering

Figure 2.10: Surface roughness scattering

Additionally, certain surface characteristics will bounce light off multiple surfaces and
cause a specular reflection back toward the sensor. The terms "dihedral return" and

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"trihedral return" refer to double-bounce reflections and triple-bounce reflections,
respectively. These are brought on by smooth surfaces that are 90 degrees apart from
one another, as shown in figure 2.11.

2.4.2) Speckle

Because the radio waves in a radar beam are aligned in space and time, SAR is a
coherent imaging technique. Although this coherency has several benefits and is
necessary for the synthetic aperture process to function, it also causes a phenomenon
known as speckle. The SAR images' quality suffers from speckle, a "salt and pepper"
variation in pixel brightness that makes it more challenging to analyse the images. There
are frequently numerous small scatters in a single pixel, which causes interference
between positive and negative waves (salt and pepper) across pixels with a steady
backscatter return.

Figure 2.12: Speckle noise reduction effect

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 Chapter Three

3 SAR APPLICATIONS

3.1) Interferometric SAR

Traditionally, ground-based geodetic methods like levelling, triangulation, and
electro-optic distance measuring have been used to collect data on crustal
deformation. We now have access to a wealth of data to study plate tectonics,
earthquakes, volcanic activity, and atmospheric and hydrological loading deformation
thanks to the global positioning system (GPS), which has more recently established
itself as a standard tool for high-precision crustal deformation measurement. However,
all of these methods require in-place benchmarks, which prevents us from observing
inaccessible areas. Thus, interferometric SAR (InSAR) was viewed as a novel and
unexpected technique. InSAR users are now widespread in the global community and
used to solve many different geophysical issues.
A pair of SLC images are combined using the interferometric SAR (InSAR) technique
to produce a ground displacement image or a digital elevation model (DEM). The
InSAR image is frequently referred to as an interferogram. Once we have two SLC
images, we can multiply one SLC image by the complex conjugate of the other SLC
image to produce an initial interferogram. The initial interferogram, which is literally
a map of the difference of two SLC phases, shows similar fringes after that.

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 Figure 3.1: Fringes interferogram

The former SLC image is frequently referred to as the master for descriptive purposes,
and the latter SLC image is known as the slave. We will return to this image co-
registration (or image matching) process later. At this point, the slave image must be
precisely matched (or co-registered) to the master image in Figure 3.2.

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 Figure 3.2: Image SLC matching
Figure 3.1 depicts an initial interferogram over level areas with parallel orbits, but if
the areas are not flat, the fringe will look undulated. It is possible to perfectly
reproduce the flat Earth fringe (also known as orbital fringe) using the two orbit data
sets. The topographic fringe that can be utilised to create a DEM can be extracted by
subtracting the flat Earth fringes from the initial interferogram. Along these lines, the
2001 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) produced 3-s resolution DEM
spanning +/ 60° latitudes. SRTM was able to produce DEM without repeating the
previous orbit track since they carried two SAR antennas on the same platform.

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3.2) Polarimetric SAR

Imaging radars are now well suited for many remote sensing applications thanks to the
development of synthetic aperture techniques. More accurate mapping has been made
feasible by the enhanced spatial resolution. However, for the majority of systems that
only use one transmit/receive polarisation combination, accurate discrimination between
similar scattering returns is still challenging. As of late, any polarisation combination
can be used to determine the scattering properties (magnitude and relative phase of the
scattered electric field).

Figure 3.6: Polarization parameters

Radiation from radars is electromagnetic. The polarisation of the wave is determined by

the direction of the electric field, which is in a plane parallel to the direction of
propagation. Dual-pol instruments can concurrently receive and transmit H and V. In
quad-pol devices, H and V are concurrently transmitted on alternating pulses and
received. The physics of how microwaves interact with surfaces determines how much
signal is reflected for various polarizations.

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 Figure 3.7: Arbitrary polarization combination possibilities

Figure 3.8: Elliptical and linear polarization

Any specific polarisation may be described using just two angles: the rotation angle and
the ellipticity angle. That determines whether the field is linearly polarised, as seen in
Figure 3.9. If a field is linearly polarized, then the orientation is described. The
ellipticity must be zero in order to have a linearly polarised field. The field is vertically
polarised if the rotation angle is equal to radians and horizontally polarised otherwise.

Figure 3.9: Vertical and Horizontal polarization

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 Figure 3.10: Ranges

The study of using multiple polarimetric returns to infer details about a surface is
known as radar polarimetry. Cryosphere, vegetation, and hydrology are a few examples
of applications. There are two complementary methods for researching polarimetry:
Theoretical models foretell how polarised signals will behave in various media. Remote
sensing observations show polarisation signatures for a variety of land cover types

Figure 3.11: On-land coverage

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 Chapter four

4 CONCLUSION

SAR image production has been covered in detail. Radar images produced by SAR have
higher resolutions than would otherwise be possible thanks to clever signal processing.
SAR imagery offers details about what is below the surface, but these images differ
greatly from optical images due to distortions and speckle. It is a mobile platform
carrying an imaging radar. After sequentially transmitting electromagnetic waves,
collecting their echoes, and digitising and storing the data in the system electronics for
later processing. Since transmission and reception happen at various times, they map to
various locations.

The coherent assembly of the incoming signals creates a virtual aperture that is
considerably wider than the actual antenna width. That is where the phrase "synthetic
aperture," which gives it the characteristics of an imaging radar, originated. The azimuth
direction, also known as the along-track direction since it corresponds to the location of
the object within the antenna's field of vision, and the flight track are both perpendicular
to the range direction.

5 REFERENCES

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[1] “Learn Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) by Example,” [Online]. Available:
https://gisgeography.com/synthetic-aperture-radar-examples/. [Accessed 6
December 2022].
[2] A. V. E. a. R. Lewis, “An Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar,” [Online].
Available: https://www.capellaspace.com/sar-101-an-introduction-to-synthetic-
aperture-radar/. [Accessed 1 December 2022].
[3] X. Tang, “SPIE digital library,” [Online]. Available:
https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org [Accessed 4 December 2022].
[4] “Polarimetric SAR,” [Online]. Available:
https://www.csr.utexas.edu/projects/rs/whatissar/polsar.html. [Accessed 2
December 2022].

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