Bistatic SAR for urban environments. Annual report 2010

The report summarizes activities and results from the research project "Bistatic SAR for urban environments" during 2010. The main activity has been flight and field experiments with bistatic SAR (222-460 MHz) which have been conducted under bilateral research cooperation with DGA in France. The experiments were conducted with two aircraft and two SAR systems during weeks 38-39. FOI participated with the SAR system LORA installed on the FMV T&E Saberliner. On the French side, ONERA participated with the SAR system SETHI installed on the AVdef Falcon 20. The two systems were synchronised using GPS signals. The experiments are unique since it is the first time that airborne bistatic SAR data in the VHF/UHF-band have been collected over a target deployment. The main test area with target deployments was MSS Kvarn and included calibration targets, vehicles, people, IED1 mock-ups and buildings. In total four flight missions were performed and both monostatic and bistatic SAR images have been produced. Bistatic SAR data were also collected during a flight mission over an area west of Skövde to obtain additional clutter statistics. Preliminary analysis of the SAR images shows good image quality and confirms the expected clutter suppression using a bistatic imaging geometry. Laser data were also collected close in time with a scanning laser on a helicopter. The acquired data sets will be analyzed during 2011 for final reporting of the research cooperation. The project has also participated in the EDA project SIMCLAIRS2 which is led by a European industry consortium. The objective of SIMCLAIRS phase 1 is to develop radar and ESM technologies for compact unmanned aerial vehicles. The goal is to develop technologies for systems and demonstrations for time horizon 2015-2020. During 2010, FOI has worked with verification of new compact designs for radar electronics in the VHF/UHF-band based on measurements with a prototype system developed by industry for helicopter installation.