X-band synthetic aperture radar evaluation platform

CSIR and UCT, with funding from ARMSCOR, has been involved in the development of a VHF SAR since 1990, which in 2000/2001 produced images of several areas of South Africa, including interesting images over the Hermanus Area [1]. Development of this technology demonstrator proved to be an expensive exercise due to the large costs involved in initial flight tests of the SAR system. Experimentation regarding SAR processing is also very expensive. A cheaper alternative was to develop a static rail with a moving trolley to simulate the aircraft flight path. This paper describes the design and implementation of such an X-band SAR system developed at the CSIR. Data processing for this system was done in collaboration with UCT. The system uses a novel stepped frequency technique for obtaining the high bandwidths required for high range resolution. Encouraging results of initial systems tests are reported.