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.