Low-Cost High-Resolution SAR Imaging on Drone with Mechanical Antenna Stabilization

This paper presents a small, lightweight and compact K-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system with mechanical antenna stabilization – mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The article presents first imaging result for this configuration, and also describes the system architecture and the implemented SAR imaging algorithm. High-resolution radar image creation requires precise trajectory estimation which is provided using a GPS position sensor and inertial measurement unit (IMU) together with SAR autofocus algorithm. The drone carrying the radar is equipped with gimbal for antenna, which automatically compensates platform rotational movements.