Design of a small, low cost, P-band airborne polarimetric synthetic aperture radar

A preliminary study of the design of B small, low cost, P-band airborne, polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar desired by the Wageningen University and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) to carry out forest biomass monitoring in Indonesia is presented. The requirements of the application are established and the main radar parameters are derived from them. A preliminary design of the system, based on commercial ONthe- shelf components is also presented. Some novelties of the system are the use of Direct Digital Synthesis to perform the modulation, the use of dual-polarized microstrip square patch antennas and the reduced size and power consumption of the system. To assist in the calculations and comparisons of SAR systems a general Matlab based program, SARCAL, has been developed. Its philosophy and main functions are described.