Development of VHF CARABAS II SAR

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Abstract
There is an increasing interest in imaging radar systems operating at low frequencies. Examples of military and civilian applications are detection of stealth-designed man- made objects, targets hidden under foliage, biomass estimation, and penetration into glaciers or ground. The developed CARABAS technology is a contribution to this field of low frequency SAR imagery. The used wavelengths offer a potential of penetration below the upper scattering layer in combination with high spatial resolution. The first prototype of the system (CARABAS I) has been tested in environments ranging from rain forests to deserts, collecting a considerably amount of data often in parallel with other SAR sensors. The work on data analysis proceeds and results obtained so far seem promising, especially for application in forested regions. The experiences gained are used in the development of a new upgraded system (CARABAS II), which is near completion and initial airborne radar tests for system verifications followed by some major field campaign are scheduled to take place during 1996. This paper will summarize the CARABAS I system characteristics and system performance evaluation. The major imperfections discovered in the radar functioning will be identified, and we explain some of the modification made in the system design for CARABAS II. A new algorithm for future real-time CARABAS data processing has been derived, with a structure well-suited for a multi-processor environment. Motion compensation and radio frequency interference mitigation are both included in this scheme. Some comments on low frequency SAR operation at UHF-based versus VHF-band will be given.

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