The sensitivity problem in the synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

The synthetic aperture radar is a pulse compression radar which moves with respect to the target. The relative motion is used to synthesize a very long antenna aperture, to achieve an along-track resolution of the order of meters. The principle of operation's fundamental equations are derived, and the limitations imposed by the imaging geometry on the selection of the main system parameters are discussed. Implementation aspects are taken into account, and a criterion for optimizing the selection of the main parameters is shown which allows the satisfaction of all the constraints imposed by the user requirements.