Experimental results of a ground FM-CW SAR system model

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems provide high resolution radar terrain images and are useful tools for both military and civilian surveillance applications. Installation of a SAR system on board of a small size unmanned aerial vehicle (mini UAV) allows for reduction of the mission costs as well as it reduces the risk of the carrier being destroyed by the opposition´s air defence. This paper presents results of an experimental measurements taken by a frequency modulated continuous wave (FM-CW) radar system model. The model has been constructed for the purpose of the evaluation of parameters of a light weight FM-CW SAR system that is intended to be installed on a mini UAV. During the experiment the radar model was installed on a car and observed the terrain along its route. The algorithm used in this application was the time domain correlation algorithm with a correction for a Doppler frequency shift of the echo signals. The resulting images are presented in the paper along with the “ground truth” pictures.