1 - Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging

International audienceAbstract: Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, is a technique thată allows us to remotely map the reflectivity of objects or environmentsă with high spatial resolution, through the emission and receptionă of electromagnetic (EM) signals. Images obtained this way can beă used for numerous applications, ranging from basic radar (an acronymă for radio detection and ranging) functionalities, which are the detectionă of objects and their geographical localization, including the estimationă of some geophysical properties of complex environments, such as certaină dimensions, moisture content, roughness, density, etc. Owing to theă frequency domains that are generally used by \SAR\ devices, thisă active sensing system is independent of Sunlight conditions and isă very weakly impacted by weather conditions. \SAR\ systems mountedă on airborne or satellite sensors rapidly image vast environmentsă that are potentially difficult to access from field measurements.ă These characteristics make radar imaging systems a tool that is particularlyă well suited for remote sensing and they are used for a large numberă of applications in numerous sectors, such as geophysics, defense,ă environment surveillance, etc