High resolution dual-channel SAR-system for airborne applications

The airborne monitoring of scenes using unmanned or small piloted aircrafts is becoming increasingly important. Several types of airborne sensors - in the electro-optical, infrared or millimeter wave spectrum - are available for the different platforms. Beside the all-weather suitability of the sensors, the deployment scenarios, often demand for the ability to look through dust clouds, smoke, or fog. The only sensor, which is capable to cope with such environmental restrictions and, at the same time, to deliver high-resolution images, is the synthetic aperture radar (SAR). In this paper, we present the extension of the well-established MIRANDA-35 SAR system with a second receiving channel for polarimetric and interferometric applications. The applied frontend upgrades and the configuration for airborne SAR with the MIRANDA system are described. Furthermore, we present the design of a newly constructed slotted waveguide antenna for cross-polarization. The first polarimetric measurement results conclude the paper and demonstrate the capabilities of the dual-channel Ka-band sensor.