note: the information in these pages tends to be dated

Typical Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems are large and expensive both to build and to operate. Intending to show that this does not need to be the case, BYU has designed and built a number of small, low-cost SAR systems, including interferometric SAR systems. The success of these systems has lead to their commercial development.

After demonstrating the feasibilty of small SAR, BYU built the YSAR system, a 2.1GHz radar built "on a shoestring" with spare parts. YSAR was used over archeological sites in Israel in Sept. 1996 to map surface and near-surface features to aid in excavation.

After this demonstration of the concept, NASA awarded a grant to build a second-generation system known YINSAR. YINSAR is an interferometric X-band system. It has been used to study land slides, archeological sites, and urban areas. YINSAR is being upgraded to include a C-band channel.

In 2004 we completed the development of a very small, low-power system known as microSAR. This C-band system is designed for operation from a six-foot wingspan, Aerosonde unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It can also be operated from a land vehicle (i.e., carSAR). It has been operated from a variety of airborne platforms. The microSAR has been upgraded to interferometric operation and units have been built at several additional bands

Most recently we have been working on the highly capable nuSAR, which operates at both L- and X-band and includes real-time processing. It has dual-polarization and interferometric capability.

YSAR and YINSAR

• SHORT YINSAR SYSTEM DESCRIPTION (2 MB pdf file)
• YINSAR INFORMATION PAGE
• YINSAR IMAGES
• YINSAR PAPERS
• STUDENT RESEARCHERS

BYU microSAR

• BYU microSAR SYSTEM DESCRIPTION (866 kB pdf file)
• BYU microSAR PAPERS

BYU nuSAR