SAR for Buyers: Modes, Resolution and What Radar Can and Cannot Do
What should a buyer understand about synthetic aperture radar before paying for it?
Chapter summary
SAR satellites send microwave pulses and record the echoes; by combining echoes collected as the satellite moves, they synthesise a large antenna and produce sharp images.
Key takeaways
- 1
Radar sees through cloud and at night, which is its main advantage.
- 2
But radar images look different from photographs: bright returns come from metal and corners, water appears dark, and geometry distorts tall objects.
- 3
Buyers choose between modes: spotlight (small area, highest resolution, about 16–50 cm commercially), stripmap (metres, larger areas) and scan modes (tens of metres, very large areas).
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ICEYE and the SAR Boom
Next →The Other SAR Operators: Capella, Umbra, iQPS, Synspective and the Incumbents
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