A Ka/X-band digital beamforming synthetic aperture radar for earth observation

A Ka/X-band digital beamforming (DBF) spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is presented in this paper. To overcome the performance limitations of current SAR systems while reducing the cost, size, mass and power consumption, it employs a multi-static passive radar concept using DBF, highly integrated analogue and digital circuits and shared-aperture Ka/X band dual-polarization antennas. Compact modular architecture of the proposed system enables the realization of various configurations of spaceborne SAR missions. The radar concept is introduced, followed by some results of antennas, analogue and digital circuits as well as the MMIC technologies.