Wikipedia
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create images of objects, such as landscapes – these images can be either two or three dimensional representations of the object. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a targeted region to provide finer spatial resolution than is possible with conventional beam-scanning radars. SAR is typically mounted on a moving platform such as an aircraft or spacecraft, and has its origins in an advanced form of side-looking airborne radar (SLAR). The distance the SAR device travels over a target in the time taken for the radar pulses to return to the antenna creates the large "synthetic" antenna aperture (the "size" of the antenna). As a rule of thumb, the larger the aperture is, the higher the image resolution will be, regardless of whether the aperture is physical (a large antenna) or 'synthetic' (a moving antenna) – this allows SAR to create high resolution images with comparatively small physical antennas.
To create a SAR image, successive pulses of radio waves are transmitted to "illuminate" a target scene, and the echo of each pulse is received and recorded. The pulses are transmitted and the echoes received using a single beam-forming antenna, with wavelengths of a meter down to several millimeters. As the SAR device on board the aircraft or spacecraft moves, the antenna location relative to the target changes with time. Signal processing of the successive recorded radar echoes allows the combining of the recordings from these multiple antenna positions – this process forms the 'synthetic antenna aperture', and allows the creation of higher resolution images than would otherwise be possible with a given physical antenna.
Current (2010) airborne systems provide resolutions of about 10 cm, ultra-wideband systems provide resolutions of a few millimeters, and experimental terahertz SAR has provided sub-millimeter resolution in the laboratory.
SAR images have wide applications in remote sensing and mapping of the surfaces of both the Earth and other planets. SAR can also be implemented as inverse SAR by observing a moving target over a substantial time with a stationary antenna.
Usage examples of "synthetic aperture radar".
The rendezvous was automatic--the tanker's navigation computers performed the entire operation, backed up by occasional updates by the B-2A's synthetic aperture radar transmitting in air-to-air mode--and a few short minutes later, the KC-10's flying boom was nestled into the B-2A bomber's in-flight refueling receptacle.
What they were seeing was not strictly an honest telescopic image but one enriched by infrared, gravitational sensors, and synthetic aperture radar.
Using synthetic aperture radar, very sophisticated (and top secret) imaging and electronic processing capabilities and the latest digital link hardware and software, the JSTAR aircraft could “.
Thermal infrared signals for the launch phase, synthetic aperture radar after that.
The whole globe shows peaks and rifts and flat ocean surfaces, which the synthetic aperture radar confirms.
One may already purchase synthetic aperture radar interferometry images from any number of sources, and panchromatic visual images with one meter resolution will soon be available over the counter for remarkably little cost.