High-Level Project Summary
Did you know that there are radars that can bring high resolution three-dimensional images without demanding high cost?it is the synthetic aperture radar among its applications we can mention fire monitoring and control, agricultural monitoring or even preparation and response to natural disasters;even with all its benefits, this technology is little explored due to lack of knowledge about it;aiming to make public the importance of this radar, we created a video and a website showing its operation and applications;
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
NASA’S 10º SPACE APPS CHALLENGE
SYNTHETIC APERTURE
RADAR _
Team Wiley
INTRODUCTION
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a form of radar used to create
images of an object, such as a landscape. SAR provides finer
spatial resolution than is possible with conventional sweep beam
radars. (Beside, an image taken with a SAR.)
OPERATING PRINCIPLES
Synthetic aperture radar systems use beamforming to direct the signal in a
direction perpendicular to the path the system is traveling. So what does
this mean? The radar moves around the surface, using the antenna's
movement over the target area to simulate the effect of several antennas,
creating a kind of panoramic image; this is what is meant by the term
“synthetic” opening. This technology can create highly detailed
two-dimensional and three-dimensional images of landscapes.
An SAR satellite forms images from the echoes of electromagnetic signals
sent by its antennas. These SAR images are used to study the changing
shape and properties of the Earth's surface and therefore can be valuable for
a wide variety of applications, like forest fire monitoring, flood mapping and
understanding earthquakes. However, SAR technology and its family of
powerful techniques such as interferometric SAR (InSAR), polarimetric SAR (PolSAR), and polarimetric
interferometric SAR (PolInSAR) are complex and can be difficult to explain to the public.
APPLICATIONS
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites provide images independent of sunlight and are unaffected by
cloud cover. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites, the Canadian Space Agency's Radarsat
Constellation Mission and the Japan Space Agency's Advanced Earth Observation Satellite 2 (JAXA) are
some examples of current SAR missions. In addition, the NASA-Indian Space Research Organization
(NISAR) SAR mission and JAXA's ALOS-4 will be launched shortly, and many commercial satellite
companies are beginning to provide SAR data as well.
RADAR BENEFITS
Synthetic Aperture Radar is fast becoming a key dataset in
geospatial investigation. Unlike many other observation
methods, SAR is not limited by lightning or cloud cover. In
recent years, due to an increasing number of orbital SAR
instruments - and more to come - there has been a
significant increase in data quality and availability,
requiring the evolution of the processing software.
As a result, automated SAR-based analytical workflows can
now be run at scale to solve problems across a wide range of
disciplines, including disaster preparedness and response,
urban development and land use, agriculture, change detection and land monitoring and at sea.
As a general rule it can be assumed that the larger the aperture, the higher the resolution of the image
becomes, regardless of physical or synthetic aperture - this allows SAR to create high resolution images
with relatively small physical antennas.
BUT WHAT IS THIS "SAR" FOR?
An SAR satellite forms images from the echoes of electromagnetic signals sent by its antennas. These SAR
images are used to study the changing shape and properties of the Earth's surface and therefore can be
valuable for a wide variety of applications, from forest fire monitoring, flood mapping, understanding
earthquakes to glacier displacement. Thanks to one of these radars, you can sit on the couch reading this
document without worrying about a possible surprise earthquake.
Space Agency Data
we use the data from this site to base our project:
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/backgrounders/what-is-sar
https://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_PT/SEMFX5D6UQH_0.html
Hackathon Journey
Participating in an event like this is always challenging. On the way, we came across several obstacles and unforeseen events, such as changes in plans, conflicts between group members, and so on. Even with all the problems, we managed to complete the challenge and learned about a new technology we didn't know about: the Synthetic Aperture Radar!
References
https://www.radartutorial.eu/20.airborne/ab07.pt.html
https://elib.dlr.de/82313/1/SAR-Tutorial-March-2013.pdf
https://www.unavco.org/instrumentation/geophysical/imaging/sar-satellites/sar-satellites.html
https://youtu.be/JPjFLFlG650
http://marte.sid.inpe.br/col/sid.inpe.br/deise/1999/02.10.15.35/doc/11_41p.pdf
https://www.radartutorial.eu/20.airborne/ab07.pt.html
Tags
#video #site