Airborne passive SAR imaging based on DVB-T signals

Paper in proceeding, 2017

Passive SAR data have been registered using the airborne low frequency SAR system LORA. For this purpose, the radar sensor was reconfigured to not transmit any signals but only gather data along the pre-defined synthetic aperture. The receiver unit was tuned to fully accommodate the DVB-T signal centred at 634 MHz (channel #41), acting as the illuminator of opportunity within the ground scene mapped. SAR images have successfully been formed for areas located in the vicinity of the DVB-T transmitter mast but also at distances 40 km away. In the data set processed, the direct and the ground-reflected signals have been registered with the same antenna element.