Ultra-high resolution airborne experiments with a new Ka-band SAR sensor

This paper presents the initial hardware setup and the system specifications of the PAMIR-Ka SAR demonstrator currently under development at Fraunhofer FHR, as well as the first experimental results. The system was realized using a quasi-monostatic antenna configuration installed and flown on board of a microlight aircraft to verify core electronics and to investigate relevant SAR imaging aspects in Ka-band. The system concept targets an ultra-high simultaneous bandwidth of 8 GHz to process SAR images with a proven minimum slant range and azimuth resolution of less than 2 cm.