Development of a ground-based Synthetic Aperture Radar for land deformation monitoring

Hazards involving ground movements and instabilities such as landslides, falling rocks or earth-falls can lead to considerable human and economic losses. Continuous monitoring of such regions can give insight into mechanisms and triggers of hazardous events. This paper discusses the design and development of a ground-based millimetre-wave Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for land deformation monitoring. The proposed system will operate at 35 GHz with change detection capability of 10 mm using interferometry technique. It will be mounted on a 1.5 m linear guided rail for continuous monitoring of a test site at Cameron Highland, Malaysia.