Radar imagery

Goal and tasks of satellite Radar imaging

The Goal of satellite Radar imaging is to quickly obtain up-to-date information about the terrain and the water surface, which is necessary to solve numerous problems in various fields of activity, for example:

• creation and updating of topographic maps and plans;
• creation of engineering-geological maps during geological surveys;
• performance of land management and cadastral works;
• creation of digital terrain models for planning and development of Telecom;
• agricultural research, detection of plant diseases and vegetation phase;
• emergency situations, disaster management;
• forest inventory;
• an emergency oil spill;
• revealing the facts of dumping fuel from ships;
• information service of works on prevention and liquidation of accidental spills;
• monitoring of deformation and displacement of the Earth's surface at mineral deposits;
• observation of deformations of structures in cities;
• monitoring of critical industrial facilities;
• pipeline monitoring;
• monitoring of auto- and railways;
• monitoring of hazardous natural and natural and technogenic processes.

Radar imaging receive data on millimeter displacements of objection the earth's surface, track oil pollution and ship situation in the waters, as well as create digital terrain models (the well-known SRTM DTM is based on the processing of Radar data).

• Create and update digital topographic maps. The features of radar shooting, which allow you to get radar images regardless of the weather, make it a real discovery for mapping areas of the Russian Far East and foreign countries, where snow interferes in winter, and in summer the rainy season and, accordingly, continuous cloud cover throughout the shooting season. The advantages of radar for cartography should also include a sufficiently high spatial resolution of radar images, which allow you to create and update maps up to a scale of 1:50 000.

• Having information about the phases of the radar signal, you can create digital models of terrain and terrain by interferometric processing. They, in turn, can be used in many areas of society's life.

• Multi-time radar images allow you to get information about the displacements of the earth's surface. This helps to detect depressions in the development of mineral deposits, deviations of infrastructure objects from the normal position and track landslide processes.

• Radar survey of water surfaces allows you to detect oil spills. Because of the structure of the substance, they have a smoothed surface and a different reflectivity of radar images, unlike natural water. This makes it quite easy to identify an oil spill on a radar image.

• Radar survey also makes it possible to find vessels that have a tracking signal disabled on purpose or as a result of an accident. The signal on the radar image is well reflected from metal surfaces and allows you to detect ships in automatic radar processing mode, even on medium-resolution radar images. It is also important that radar images can be obtained just an hour after shooting. This speed allows you to find the ship with greater accuracy to the relevant services.

• The different reflectivity of the radar survey makes it possible to detect burning and deforestation in woodlands, as well as to monitor the condition of agricultural crops.

Benefits of using radar images

Radar images at any time of the day and at any time weather (microwave radiation passes freely through clouds and does not require daylight, like visible and infrared images):

• High degree of detail due to the high spatial resolution;
• A cost-effective alternative to GPS monitoring of displacements on the ground;

• The ability to conduct radar surveys in any weather (including heavy clouds) and at any time of the day (including at night);.

Innovative processing allows you to discover more and more new areas, for example:

• The Far East of Russia and foreign countries where cloudiness throughout the filming season. Cartography is high spatial resolution of Radar images to create and update maps up to a scale of 1:50,000.
• An information about the phases of the Radar survey signal to create digital terrain and terrain models by interferometric processing. It can be used in many areas of society.
• Multi-temporal radar images make it possible to obtain information about the displacements of the earth's surface. This helps to detect depressions during the development of mineral deposits, deviations of infrastructure from the normal position and track landslide processes.
• Radar imaging of water surfaces makes it possible to detect oil spills. Due to the peculiarities of the structure of the substance. They have a smoothed surface and a different reflectivity of radar imaging, in contrast to natural water. This makes it quite easy to identify an oil spill on a radar image.
• Radar survey also makes it possible to find ships whose tracking signal is disabled on purpose or as a result of an accident. The signal on the Radar image is well reflected from metal surfaces and allows you to detect ships in automatic radar processing mode even on medium-resolution radar images. It is also important that Radar images can be obtained in as little as an hour after the survey. This efficiency allows the relevant services to find the vessel with greater accuracy.
• The different reflectivity of radar imaging makes it possible to detect burnt areas and clearings in forests, as well as to monitor the condition of agricultural crops.