ATI's Space Based Radar course

Summary: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is the most versatile remote sensor. It is an all-weather sensor that can penetrate cloud cover and operates day or night from space-based or airborne systems. This 5-day course provides a survey of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications and how they influence and are constrained by instrument, platform (satellite) and image signal processing and extraction technologies/design. The course will introduce advanced systems design and associated signal processing concepts and implementation details. The course covers the fundamental concepts and principles for SAR, the key design parameters and system features, space-based systems used for collecting SAR data, signal processing techniques, and many applications of SAR data. Instructors: Bob Hill received his BS degree in 1957 (Iowa State University) and the MS in 1967 (University of Maryland), both in electrical engineering. He managed the development of the phased array radar of the Navy's AEGIS system from the early 1960s through its introduction to the fleet in 1975. Later in his career he directed the development, acquisition and support of all surveillance radars of the surface navy. He retired from the federal service in 1988, continuing his teaching of radar courses. Mr. Hill is a Fellow of the IEEE, an IEEE "distinguished lecturer" and a member of its Radar Systems Panel. Bart Huxtable has a Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology, and a B.Sc. degree in Physics and Math from the University of Delaware. Dr. Huxtable is President of User Systems, Inc. He has over twenty years experience in signal processing and numerical algorithm design and implementation emphasizing application-specific data processing and analysis for remote sensor systems including radars, sonars, and lidars. He integrates his broad experience in physics, mathematics, numerical algorithms, and statistical detection and estimation theory to develop processing algorithms and performance simulations for many of the modern remote sensing applications using radars, sonars, and lidars. Dr. Keith Raney has a Ph.D. in Computer, Information and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and a B.S. degree from Harvard University. He works for the Space Department of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, with responsibilities for earth observation systems development, and radar system analysis. He holds United States and international patents on the Delay/Doppler Radar Altimeter. He was on NASA's Europa Orbiter Radar Sounder instrument design team, and on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter instrument definition team. He was the Principal Investigator for JHU/APL's Instrument Incubator Project "The New Generation of Radar Altimeters: Proof of Concept". He was the Project Scientist for ABYSS, a delay-Doppler altimeter that was proposed for the International Space Station under the NASA 2002 ESSP opportunity. Dr. Raney is on the Science Advisory Group for the European Space Agency's CryoSat, a satellite-based radar altimeter based on his original ideas. Dr. Raney has an extensive background in imaging radar theory, and in interdisciplinary applications using sensing systems. What You Will Learn: Basic concepts and principles of SAR and its applications What are the key system parameters How is performance calculated Design implementation and tradeoffs How to design and build high performance signal processors Current state-of-the-art systems SAR image interpretation Course Outline: Radar Basics. Nature of EM waves, Vector representation of waves, Scattering and Propagation. Tools and Conventions. Radar sensitivity and accuracy performance. Subsystems and Critical Radar Components. Transmitter, Antenna, Receiver and Signal Processor, Control and Interface Apparatus, Comparison to Commsats. Fundamentals of Aperture Synthesis. Motivation for SAR, SAR image formation. Fourier Imaging. Bragg resonance condition, Born approximation Signal Processing. Pulse compression: range resolution and signal bandwidth, Overview of Strip-Map Algorithms including Range-Doppler algorithm, Range migration algorithm, Chirp scaling algorithm, Overview of Spotlight Algorithms including Polar format algorithm, Motion Compensation, Autofocusing using the Map-Drift and PGA algorithms. Radar Phenomenology and Image Interpretation. Radar and target interaction including radar cross-section, attenuation & penetration (atmosphere, foliage), and frequency dependence, Imagery examples. Visual Presentation of SAR Imagery. Non-linear remapping, Apodization, Super resolution, Speckle reduction (Multi-look). Interferometry. Topographic mapping, Differential topography (crustal deformation & subsidence), Change detection. Polarimetry. Terrain classification, Scatterer characterization, Miscellaneous SAR Applications. Mapping, Forestry, Oceanographic, etc. Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI). Theory and Applications. Image Quality Parameters. Peak-to-sidelobe ratio, Integrated sidelobe ratio, Multiplicative noise ratio and major contributors. Radar Equation for SAR. Key radar equation parameters, Signal-to-Noise ratio, Clutter-to-Noise ratio, Noise equivalent backscatter, Electronic counter measures and electronic counter counter measures. Ambiguity Constraints for SAR. Range ambiguities, Azimuth ambiguities, Minimum antenna area, Maximum area coverage rate, ScanSAR. SAR Specification. System specification overview, Design drivers. Orbit Selection. LEO, MEO, GEO, Access area, Formation flying (e.g., cartwheel). Example SAR Systems. History, Airborne, Space-Based, Future. Tuition: Tuition for this four-and-a-half-day course is $1695 per person at one of our scheduled public courses. Onsite pricing is available. Please call us at 410-956-8805 or send an email to ati@ATIcourses.com. Register Now Without Obligation