SAR for disaster management

In the last couple of years, an indigenous airborne synthetic aperture radar for disaster management (DMSAR) has been under development at SAC / ISRO, as a capacity building measure for evolving an effective disaster management support (DMS) system in India. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has an unique role to play in the mapping and monitoring of large areas affected by natural disasters, especially floods, owing to its unique capability to see through clouds as well as all-weather imaging capability. DMSAR is presently mounted on-board Beechcraft B-200 aircraft and will he subsequently carried on a jet class aircraft and utilized for estimating the extent of damage over large areas (~50-75 Km) and also assess the effectiveness of the relief measures undertaken during disasters like floods. Considering the unique application requirements of disaster management, one of the major essential and critical requirements is the generation and availability of DMSAR images in real- or near-real-time with very fast turn-around times. DMSAR image generation involves complex signal processing of the acquired raw data, involving data decompression, two-dimensional SAR processing, motion sensing and compensation tasks, and image mosaicing on display as well as storage of processed SAR images on suitable recording media.