High-Resolution Radars for Environmental Studies

Abstract

Recent advances in the design and realization of high-resolution radars for environmental studies are discussed. Two types of such instruments are considered: Doppler, millimeter-wave meteorological radars and an airborne SAR system, which have been developed at the Institute of Radio Astronomy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The meteorological radars have been designed for long-term, unattainable operation at remote locates. The SAR system benefits essentially from a novel algorithm, which enables the estimation of the antenna beam orientation angles directly from the radar returns. The SAR with this technique introduced can be operated from small aircrafts without using of a complicated navigation system. The set-up of these instruments, the technical solutions, and the signal processing techniques introduced are discussed. The results obtained during measurement campaigns are presented as well.