SDR-Based Ground Target for Identification and Tracking through Satellite SAR Systems

This paper presents a new approach to integrate communication process in satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR), without the necessity of updates in systems already on-air, through a software defined radio (SDR) based ground target. Nowadays, in the actual context of fast technology evolution, wireless communication integration is becoming popular in commercial and research domains, and from this point of view, SAR is the perfect candidate because of its appeal that increases constantly. Through the flexibility and versatility of SDR technology, a novel ground target is proposed in order to emulate the ground backscattering of SAR waveforms with the implementation of a coding technique that allows the integration of a transparent wireless communication link in SAR devices already on-air, enabling the classic SAR image process without interferences but also the simultaneous ground target identification and tracking. In this paper, the features and the design strategies of the SDR-based ground target are described followed by the presentation of the prototype.