Microwaves and Radar Institute - Overview of Projects and Research Activities - DLR
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German Aerospace Center A member of the Helmholtz Association Microwaves and Radar Institute Director of the Institute Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Alberto Moreira Address Oberpfaffenhofen D-82234 Weßling www.dlr.de/HR Layout Renate Weist Printed by Digital- & Offsetdruck Wolfertstetter KG, Gilching June 2013 Cover TanDEM-X Mission This brochure may be reprinted in whole or in part or otherwise used commercially only by previous agreement with the DLR.
Examples of such research programs are Institute’s Profile bistatic and multistatic SAR systems, digital beamforming, inverse SAR, Mission polarimetric SAR interferometry and tomography, calibration, signatures, With its know-how and expertise in propagation, antennas, as well as radio- passive and active microwave remote metry and imaging techniques for sensing, the Microwaves and Radar security. Institute contributes to the development and advancement of ground-based, Organization Microwaves and Radar Institute airborne and spaceborne sensors. Microwaves and Radar Institute. The focus of its research work is on the The Institute has 4 departments working conception and development of new in well established research programs, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques projects and external contracts. and systems, as well as sensor-specific The Institute has about 145 employees, applications. The Institute‘s strength is comprising scientists, engineers, the execution of long-term research technicians, support personnel, as well as programs with applications in remote internship, diploma and doctoral sensing, aeronautics and traffic monitor- students, and guest scientists. ng, as well as reconnaissance and security. In line with the German space Three Institute’s departments are program, the Institute works in close working on Earth observation and one collaboration with other DLR institutes, on reconnaissance and security. The SAR the German Space Administration, the Technology department is responsible European Space Agency, German for the development of the airborne SAR industry and responsible ministries. system F-SAR and contributes to the TechLab: a new building for high-tech The education of young scientists in spaceborne SAR projects with airborne microwave sensor development. the form of hosting and supervising campaigns to simulate new data internships, as well as diploma and products, to validate and cross-calibrate doctoral theses is also an important the satellite data and to demonstrate part of the Institute’s mission. new techniques. Research and Projects The Satellite SAR Systems department and the Radar Concepts department are In the last 5 years, the Institute has engaged in new spaceborne SAR actively participated and also initiated missions, and are developing new sensor several SAR missions and research concepts and techniques for future radar programs that are decisive for its long- systems. The Satellite SAR Systems term strategy. Important examples are department is responsible for operating TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, F-SAR (new the radar instruments on TerraSAR-X and airborne SAR) and SAR-Lupe. It is also TanDEM-X and holds the position of the working on future remote sensing and mission manager. The Radar Concepts reconnaissance systems, such as department also contributes with the Sentinel-1 (ESA GMES program), development of new sensor-related Compact Test Range Facility. TerraSAR-X2 (follow-on to TerraSAR-X), applications. For military spaceborne SAR HRWS (next generation X-band SAR with activities, all major projects and activities high-resolution wide-swath imaging), are concentrated in the Reconnaissance Tandem-L (L-band mission proposal) and Security department. The Institute’s BIOMASS (ESA Earth Explorer mission), expertise in passive microwave systems VABENE (DLR project for traffic is also in this department, as most of the monitoring with radar) and the SAR-Lupe passive microwave projects are presently follow-on program. These projects are related to security applications. accompanied by research programs that ensure the Institute keeps a step ahead in the development of new research fields. 1
development, as well as SAR system Expertise and specification. Facilities In 2009, all Institute’s facilities and technological developments have been With the continuity of successful research concentrated in a new building – in SAR over 35 years it has been possible TechLab – a center for high-tech to channel the experience gained from microwave sensor development with the planning and implementation of several laboratories and measurement international space missions into a facilities, and approx. 25 employees. F-SAR: The new airborne SAR system of DLR. national SAR program. Due to the end- The main facility is a compact test to-end system know-how from data range for highly accurate antenna acquisition (including the Institute’s characterization, as well as for radar airborne SAR), system design to data cross-section measurements. Further interpretation and research into new facilities are a microwave chamber for applications, the Institute has become measuring monostatic and bistatic radar one of the leading international research signatures of scaled target models, institutions in SAR. The Institute is today facilities for determining the dielectric recognized as a leading research center properties of material samples and a pool on synthetic aperture radar. of ground equipment for spaceborne SAR calibration. Also included in TechLab The Institute has a number of large-scale are several research laboratories, facilities to support its research activities especially equipped for the development, in microwave sensor development and optimization, integration, testing and associated technologies. The airborne calibration of radar and radiometer SAR system F-SAR is the successor of systems. the well-known E-SAR system of DLR. F-SAR is a totally new development The Institute operates also a microwave utilizing the most modern hardware and mechanical laboratory for the design, commercial off-the-shelf components. development and manufacture of As for E-SAR, DLR’s Dornier DO228-212 microwave components, instruments aircraft was the first choice as the plat- and models, using numerically controlled form for the new system. F-SAR is a machines. The laboratory also manu- modular system operating in X, C, S, L factures miniaturized and hollow and P-band. Besides the fully polarimetric components using galvanic and galvano- capability in all frequencies, it allows the plastic techniques. It provides valuable operation of up to 4 frequencies at the consultancy for the researchers and same time with a data rate up to 1 Gbit/s developers in the specification and design per channel. The geometric resolution of microwave instruments and varies from 2.5 meters to 25 centimeters experimental set-ups. depending on the frequency band and user requirements. F-SAR is fully recon- figurable and will include innovative operation modes with digital beam- forming on receive in future system upgrades. The main objectives of the airborne flight campaigns are the development of innovative SAR modes or operational configurations, the demonstration of novel techniques and applications, as well as performing preparatory experiments for future SAR satellite systems, supporting data product 2
(SRTM/X-SAR) in 2000. A next important Synthetic Aperture step in Germany’s radar roadmap was taken in 2001 with the decision to build Radar the first dedicated radar satellite. TerraSAR-X was launched in 2007 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an and is providing high-quality images indispensable source of information in with a resolution up to 1 m. Earth observation, since SAR is the only TanDEM-X, a rebuild of TerraSAR-X with spaceborne sensor that has high- some modifications for allowing bistatic resolution, all-weather and day-and-night interferometry in close formation flight, imaging capability. SAR plays a major role was launched in 2010 and is acquiring in a wide spectrum of applications, such a digital elevation model of the entire TerraSAR-X satellite was launched as environmental monitoring, retrieval of land surface of the Earth with a height in June 2007 and is providing since then bio/geo-physical parameters of land, accuracy better than 2 m. The roadmap high-quality images with a resolution vegetation, water, snow and ice surfaces, for the German radar program foresees up to 1 meter. hazard and disaster monitoring as well the launch of a next generation X-band as reconnaissance and security related SAR satellite by the end of this decade. applications. Further measurement The SAR instrument will have a digital capabilities are achieved by repeat-pass beamforming capability on receive, in interferometry (e.g. deformation of the order to allow simultaneously high- Earth surface to millimeter accuracy), resolution and wide-swath imaging. single-pass across-track interferometry (e.g. generation of digital elevation models), e.g. polarimetry (e.g. soil Projects moisture estimation), polarimetric SAR interferometry (derivation of forest height TerraSAR-X and above-ground biomass), as well as On June 15, 2007, Germany's first SAR tomography (e.g. forest structure operational radar satellite TerraSAR-X profiling). was launched into orbit. The mission is Today, we have entered into a new era implemented in a public-private partner- of spaceborne SAR systems. Satellite ship (PPP) between DLR and EADS systems like TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, Astrium GmbH. The TerraSAR-X satellite Multi-temporal TerraSAR-X image Radarsat-2 and COSMO-SkyMed are has been developed by EADS Astrium of the Sylt island in North Germany providing radar images with a resolution GmbH; four DLR institutes in (green: 22 Oct., blue: 24 Oct., and more than one order of magnitude better Oberpfaffenhofen have developed red: 27 Oct., 2007). than that of previous SAR systems. They the ground segment and are operating are also outperforming by far previous the mission. systems with respect to their imaging TerraSAR-X supplies high-quality radar flexibility and interferometric modes. data for a mission life-time of at least five German Space Radar Program years (current expectation is more than six years). In this context, TerraSAR-X Germany has focused its national space serves two main goals: 1) To provide the radar program on the development of scientific community with multi-mode X-band SAR instruments. MRSE – X-band SAR data, and 2) to establish a Microwave Remote Sensing Experiment – commercial Earth observation market, was the first spaceborne X-band SAR i.e. to develop a sustainable EO business, instrument and was carried on-board the so that follow-on radar satellite systems Space Shuttle mission Spacelab-1 in can be completely financed by industry 1983. In cooperation with NASA/JPL and from the revenues. TerraSAR-X is an ASI, the next X-band SAR instrument advanced X-band radar satellite with a flew on-board two Shuttle radar imaging phased array antenna consisting of missions (SIR-C/X-SAR) in 1994, followed 384 transmit and receive modules. by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission The antenna is fixed mounted to the 3
of the Mission Manager who chairs the Mission Board, also including the science and the commercial coordinators. The Mission Board decides on the strategic planning and all issues related to daily business, nominal operations and contingencies. Representing the German federal government, the DLR is the sole owner of the TerraSAR-X data and coordinates the scientific data utilization. TanDEM-X TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement), initiated jointly by the Microwaves and Radar Institute and EADS Astrium GmbH in 2003, opens a new era in spaceborne radar remote sensing. A single-pass SAR interferometer with adjustable baselines in across and along-track directions Digital elevaton model generated by TanDEM-X showing the largest salt flat in the world is formed by adding a second, almost (Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia). Since the start of the operational phase in December 2010, TanDEM-X identical spacecraft to accompany is mapping ca. 12 million square kilometers per month in interferometric mode. TerraSAR-X in a closely controlled formation. With typical across-track baselines of 200 – 400 m, a global digital spacecraft body and spans an overall elevation model (DEM) with 2 m relative aperture size of 4.8 x 0.7 m. The center height accuracy at 12 m horizontal frequency of the radar instrument is posting is being generated. DEMs are 9.65 GHz with a selectable system of fundamental importance for a broad bandwidth of up to 300 MHz. Variable range of scientific and environmental antenna beams and multiple operation applications. For example, many geo- modes can be selected like stripmap science areas, like hydrology, glaciology, (3 m resolution, 30 km swath width), forestry, geology, oceanography, and scanSAR (16 m, 100 km swath width), environmental monitoring require precise or high-resolution spotlight mode (1 m, and up-to-date information about the 5/10 x 10 km image size). The imaging Earth’s surface and its topography. modes can be further combined with Beyond the primary mission objective, different polarization settings. In the TanDEM-X provides a configurable SAR scope of the calibration activities for interferometry test bed for demonstrat- TerraSAR-X, it has been demonstrated ing new SAR techniques (multistatic SAR, that the calibration accuracy of the radar polarimetric SAR interferometry, digital images is better than 0.3 dB and that the beamforming and super resolution) geo-localization accuracy is in the order and associated applications. of 30 centimeters. An orbit configuration based on a helix The Institute has contributed to the geometry has been patented by the TerraSAR-X project with a dedicated Institute and was selected for safe SAR system engineering activity with the formation flying of the two satellites. TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for design, implementation and operation In order to allow accurate phase Digital Elevation Measurement), initiated of the Instrument Operations and information in the bistatic acquisition jointly by the Microwaves and Radar Calibration System (IOCS) and with the mode, the radar instruments feature Institute and EADS Astrium GmbH, opens development and execution of the end- a new technique for exchanging phase a new era in spaceborne radar remote to-end system calibration. Beyond these information via dedicated microwave sensing. tasks, the Institute also holds the position links. 4
Combined data acquisition planning for a unique data source to observe, analyze both the TerraSAR-X mission with single and quantify a wide range of mutually localized requests as well as for the interacting processes in the biosphere, TanDEM-X mission with a global DEM lithosphere, hydrosphere and cryosphere. mapping strategy is a major challenge The systematic observation of these under the constraints of limited space processes benefits from the high data segment resources. For generating the acquisition capacity and the novel high- global DEM roughly 350 TByte of raw resolution wide-swath SAR imaging data will be acquired using a network modes that combine digital beamforming of ground receiving stations. Processing with a large reflector antenna. to DEM products requires advanced multi-baseline techniques and involves One key technology of Tandem-L is the mosaicking and a sophisticated use of a large reflector antenna in Tandem-L: Proposal for a highly calibration scheme on a continental scale. combination with digital beamforming innovative L-band mission. The global DEM will be available by end in the feed array that illuminates the 2014. Besides the tasks in the develop- reflector. While all feed elements are ment of the ground segment, the used during transmission, allowing the Institute is managing the ground illumination of a large image swath, segment project in Oberpfaffenhofen 2-3 feed elements are activated during and coordinates the scientific activities the receive window. The feed element of the TanDEM-X mission. positions are periodically shifted following the systematic variation of the TanDEM-X represents an important step direction of arrival of the swath echoes. towards a constellation of bistatic and multistatic radar satellites and will The advantages of this concept are provide sustained support for Germany’s manifold. First, the use of a large leading role in spaceborne SAR tech- reflector antenna in connection with nologies and missions. digital beamforming allows the reduction of the transmit power by a factor of 3-4 Tandem-L compared to the traditional SAR concept Tandem-L is a mission proposal initiated for the same imaging parameters. by the Institute for an innovative inter- Second, it allows the mapping of a Tandem-L: Simulation of the forest height ferometric L-band radar instrument that much wider swath (approx. 350 km) derived from two radar acquisitions using enables the systematic monitoring of in high-resolution stripmap mode. polarimetric SAR interferometry. dynamic Earth processes using advanced The fully polarimetric acquisition in The forest biomass can be estimated techniques and technologies. The mission stripmap mode with a wide swath is from the forest height using an allometric is science driven, aiming to provide a possible without the constraints of equation and the forest profile. unique data set for climate and environ- conventional SAR systems. This image shows the area of Traunstein, mental research, geodynamics, hydrology Germany. and oceanography. Important application It is planned to realize the Tandem-L examples are global forest height and mission in cooperation with an biomass inventories, measurements of international partner. The mission Earth deformation due to tectonic concept was developed in detail in a two- processes and/or anthropogenic factors, year pre-phase A study and it will be observations of ice/glacier velocity fields further investigated in the next 18 and 3-D structure changes, and the months. The cooperation with an monitoring of soil moisture and ocean international partner will allow surface currents. a cost-effective implementation, whereby each partner contributes with The Tandem-L mission concept consists its predevelopments and experience. of two cooperating satellites flying in According to current planning, the close formation. The Pol-InSAR and Tandem-L satellites could be launched repeat-pass acquisition modes provide in 2019. 5
Future Research Tandem-L is a radar mission proposal in L-band. A pre-phase A study has been Activities & Projects performed from 2008 to 2011. The study has been extended until 2014 in order Looking ahead to the next 5 years, the to investigate a joint relization of Institute will continue to initiate and Tandem-L with JAXA. The decision for contribute to several projects that will implementation depends on an approval be decisive for its long-term strategy. of the required funding which is The table below shows the most expected to occur by the end of 2014. important projects in the Institute. The number of projects since 2006 The project RSE is fully funded by the has increased considerably. By means German MoD and encompasses all of the Institute’s contributions to the activities of the Institute related to TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and SAR-Lupe security and reconnaissance. It includes projects, a highly qualified project team the technical support, engineering and has been established. Due to the high mission analysis of SAR-Lupe and its degree of innovation in science and follow-on system, as well as the passive technology, the mission Tandem-L microwave sensor developments. represents the most important project for the Institute in the years to come and Since 2009 the Institute has contributed can be seen as a next milestone in the to the TerraSAR-X2 phase A study. national radar roadmap after TanDEM-X. It is expected that TerraSAR-X2 will include new technological parts of National Missions and Projects a high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS) TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X are national SAR system. Different to TanDEM-X, high-resolution radar satellites launched the requirements for TerraSAR-X2 are in 2007 and 2010. The tandem operation mainly driven by commercial applications. of both satellites for DEM generation is However, according to the PPP agree- planned until mid 2014, but an extension ment, TerraSAR-X2 will ensure X-band of the operation is expected, because data continuity for the scientific TerraSAR-X is still fully functional and has community. sufficient resources available. Although the nominal lifetime of TerraSAR-X is European Projects specified to be 5.5 years, an extension to more than 7 years is expected. Sentinel-1a and Sentinel-1b are two C-band radar satellites from the EU/ESA GMES program with a launch scheduled Most important projects in the Institute. Bars in orange show the planned continuation of for beginning 2014 and 2015, resp. the respective project. Satellite launches are indicated by triangles. The Institute’s contribution lies in the definition of the end-to-end system calibration concept and algorithms. It is expected that the Institute will participate in the calibration during the commissioning phase of the satellites and also contribute to the envisaged calibration and image quality control center of ESA. 6
BIOMASS (P-band SAR, fully polarimetric) Resource allocation in the Institute for the projects and research programs. More than 70% is an Earth Explorer mission recommen- of the Institute’s resources are allocated to DLR projects and external contracts. ded for implementation. The Institute is involved in the calibration and several science studies for the two radar missions. For BIOMASS, the Institute is the prime contractor for the development of the complete end-to-end mission performance simulator. Further activities include flight campaigns with the airborne SAR. The Institute also contributes to the Spanish PAZ satellite with the delivery of the SAR related software modules for instrument operations and calibration. The PAZ satellite is a TerraSAR-X based satellite, the launch is scheduled for beginning 2014. DLR Internal Projects Research Programs F-SAR is the new airborne SAR system The above mentioned projects are of DLR that became fully operational by accompanied by several research pro- 2012. It is planned to expand the grams. The table on the top summarizes F-SAR system to include a digital beam- the internal and external projects as well forming capability by 2015. Several as the research programs that are funded internal and external flight campaigns by the DLR program directorates in the have already been executed with F-SAR areas of space, aeronautics and trans- since 2008, the intensive operational portation. Examples of research programs phase started in 2012. are new SAR concepts, signal processing, airborne SAR, information retrieval, F-SAR has been extended to a 4-channel calibration, and signatures. The research system for road traffic monitoring (DLR programs are closely interconnected with internal project VABENE). The Institute the project activities. As a matter of fact, has submitted a proposal for developing most of the current projects of the a low-cost, compact airborne SAR for Institute have started as research pro- road traffic monitoring based on the grams with typical durations of 2 to F-SAR technology. This project has 5 years. Due to the long-term aspect of started mid 2012. the Institute’s projects, it has developed a roadmap for the future radar activities The DLR projects FaUSST and FFT-2 jointly with its partners in industry and deal with UCAVs (Unmanned Combat research. This roadmap is being updated Aerial Vehicles) and agile missiles, on a regular basis. As of today, the respectively. Several disciplines, like Institute has more than 70% of its aerodynamics, flight control, material resources allocated to DLR projects sciences, actuation, radar and infrared and external contracts. Considering signatures are represented. The Institute's the success in the approval of the new contributions are investigations mid-term and long-term projects, it is concerning radar signatures, radar expected that this percentage will detection probabilities and radome be maintained above 70% in the microwave transmission. next 5 years. 7
High-flying and unmanned vehicles Low Earth Orbit Satellites (LEO) Vision will certainly act as a complementary platform for this network of sensors. In a changing and dynamic world, Furthermore, radar satellites flying timely and high-resolution geospatial in close formation will allow the information with global access and construction of sparse arrays with coverage becomes increasingly im- enhanced imaging capabilities. portant. Constellations of SAR satellites will play a major role in this task, since Another important aspect for present SAR is the only spaceborne sensor that and future microwave sensors is the has all-weather, day-and-night, high- ability to provide quantitative and reliable resolution imaging capability. Examples data products to the user community. of applications for such a constellation Today, the sensor information becomes Geostationary Illuminator are environmental remote sensing, road multi-dimensional, as different sensor + Low EO Receivers traffic, hazard and disaster monitoring, sources, polarizations, temporal and as well as reconnaissance and security spatial baselines, aspect angles and related applications. frequencies are used for parameter retrieval. The Institute will direct its One challenge for future spaceborne efforts towards more accurate system SAR systems is to optimize the calibration to improve product quality performance/cost ratio as much as and reliability, as well as towards the possible, so that a constellation of development of algorithms for sensor- satellites becomes affordable. Innovative specific parameter retrieval, as in the case concepts with bistatic and multistatic of multi-baseline polarimetric SAR system configurations represent an interferometry and tomography. Medium EO Satellites attractive solution, exploiting the use (MEO) of small receiver satellites which acquire In some respect, the vision of a SAR the backscattered signal of active MEO sensor network is not too far away. or GEO satellites. Utilization of the same The successful TanDEM-X mission transmit signal for different applications is an important milestone and the can also be explored, as in the case of implementation of Tandem-L would be GPS reflectometry for ocean and land a further major step towards this vision. remote sensing. Digital beamforming on The Institute is committed to increase transmit and/or receive will solve the its role in the development of future contradiction posed by the antenna size microwave satellites for remote sensing, in traditional SAR systems that prohibits reconnaissance and traffic monitoring. the SAR sensor from having high azimuth It aims to expand its expertise and Concepts for a future constellation of resolution and a large swath width at leadership in strategically important radar satellites for quasi-continuous the same time. Digital beamforming is projects and research areas. Together monitoring of the Earth. a clear trend for future systems, allowing with its cooperation partners in DLR, Top: low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, enormous flexibility in the sensor imaging industry and science, the Institute will middle: geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) mode, sensor calibration, interference play a key role in the realization of this transmitter with LEO receivers; removal, and ambiguity suppression. vision. bottom: medium Earth orbit (MEO) These concepts will allow the implemen- satellites. tation of a flexible SAR sensor network with a faster access time and almost continuous imaging capability, necessary for time-critical applications. 8
Overview of the Institute’s facilities. Facility Description New airborne SAR system with polarimetric and interferometric operation F-SAR in X, C, S, L and P-band. Geometric resolution varies from 4 meters to 25 centimeters depending on the frequency band and user requirements. Center for microwave development, including several laboratories and TechLab facilities for sensor development, integration and testing for airborne radar, radiometers, antenna and calibration devices. Microwave anechoic chamber (24 m x 11.7 m x 9.7 m) with a dual cylindrical Compact Test parabolic reflector configuration for highly accurate antenna characterization Range and radar cross-section measurements. The frequency range is from 300 MHz up to 100 GHz. Microwave anechoic chamber (8.5 m x 5.7 m x 5 m) for measuring quasi- Bistatic monostatic and bistatic polarimetric radar signatures of canonical test objects, Signatures as well as scaled target models operating in W-band under stable temperature Chamber conditions. Material Material characterization using free-space transmission and reflection Property measurements at X-band, Ka-band and W-band. Waveguide measurements Measurements are also provided for frequencies from 1.1 GHz up to 110 GHz. A suite of passive and active calibrators, as well as software tools for accurate CALIF calibration of spaceborne SAR sensors. The test site for the deployment of the calibration devices can cover a swath width of up to 450 km. Design, development and manufacture of microwave components, Mechanical Lab instruments and models in machining and electroforming techniques, as well as mechanical drives, positioning systems and various racks and housings. 9
DLR at a Glance DLR is Germany’s national center for aeronautics and space. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport and security is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. In addition to its own research, as Germany’s space agency, DLR has been given responsibility by the federal government for the planning and implementation of the German space programme. DLR is also the umbrella organisation for the nation’s largest project execution organisation. DLR has approximately 7400 employees at 16 locations in Germany: Cologne (headquarters), Augsburg, Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Goettingen, Hamburg, Juelich, Lampoldshausen, Neustrelitz, Oberpfaffenhofen, Stade, Stuttgart, Trauen, and Weilheim. DLR also has offices in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo and Washington D.C. Microwaves and Radar Institute With its know-how and expertise in passive and active microwave remote sensing, the Microwaves and Radar Institute contributes to the development and advancement of ground-based, airborne and spaceborne sensors and missions. The Institute’s expertise encompasses the whole end-to-end system know-how in micro- wave sensors. It has a number of large-scale facilities to support its research activities, including the airborne SAR (F-SAR) and a new building for microwave sensor and technology development (TechLab). The Institute is located in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich and has a long history dating back to the beginning of the last century. Today, the Institute focuses its research on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques, sensors and applications related to remote sensing, environmental monitoring, reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as road traffic monitoring. The Institute has about 145 employees and has become the driving force of the SAR Center of Excellence at DLR. It is a leading institution in synthetic aperture radar remote sensing in Europe and worldwide. Microwaves and Radar Institute Oberpfaffenhofen D-82234 Weßling www.dlr.de/HR
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