ASSIGNMENT

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR

(UAVSAR)

Submitted by
MUHAMMAD ARSLAN LIAQUAT

Registration Number
6539/FURC/BSTE-2012

ANWAR JAMAL ANSARI

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

FOUNDATION UNIVERSITY RAWALPIND CAMPUS
JANUARY 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE.1
1) SYNTHATIC APERTURE RADAR
5
1.1) OVERVIEW 5
1.2) WORKING PRINCIPLE
5
1.3) RADAR EQUATION FOR SAR
6
1.4) RESOLUTION
6
1.5) EQUIPMENT CONSIDERATION 7
1.6) OPTICAL PROCESSING 7
2) INTRODUCTION TO UAVSAR 9
3) PRIMARY OBJECTIVE.10
4) CHALLENGES 11
5) STATUS OF THE UAVSAR IMPLEMENTATION AND CAMPAIGN SERVICES 12
6) PURPOSE OF DESIGNING UAVSAR 16
7) UAVSAR INSTRUMENT
16
8) UAVSAR MASS DISTRIBUTION
17
9) BLOCK DIAGRAM AND ITS DISCRIPTION 19
9.1) POWER SUBSYSTEM
20
9.2) DIGITAL ELECTRONIC SUBSYSTEM 20
9.2.1) ARC(AUTOMATICRADARCONTROLLER)
20
9.2.2) CTU(CONTROLANDTIMINGUNIT)
21
9.3) ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM 21
9.3.1) ANTENNA 21
9.3.2) TRANSMITTING /RECIEVING MODULES
22
9.3.3) TRANSMITTING/RECEIVING-ANTENNA-CONTROLLER (TRAC)
23
9.3.4) THE T/R MODULE BLOCK DIAGRAM 24
9.3.5) CALIBRATION
25
10) PLANNED UAVSAR ONBOARD PROCESSING CAPABILITIES
10.1) UAVSAR SMART SENSOR CONCEPT
28
11) REFERENCE 32

27

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: UAVSAR INSTRUMENT PARAMETERS

17

TABLE 2: UAVSAR ELECTRICAL PARAMETERS

25

TABLE 3: UAVSAR MECHANICAL PARAMETERS

26
2

TABLE 4: UAVSAR ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS27

TABLE OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1: GEOMATERY 0F THE SYNTATHIC APERTURE RADAR
FIGURE 2: SYNTATHIC APERTURE RADAR IMAGE OF SAN DIAGO
FIGURE 3: OPTICAL PROCESSOR FOR SYNTATHIC APERTURE RADAR
FIGURE 4: UAVSAR RADAR POD ATTACHED TO GULFSTREAM III, SHOWING
RECTANGULAR ANTENNA RADOME
FIGURE 5: NASA UAVSAR IMAGE OF THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL,
COLLECTED JUNE 23, 2010

FIGURE 6: OVERVIEW OF THE UAVSAR INTERFEROGRAM OF THE MAGNITUDE 7.2

BAJA CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE OF APRIL 4, 2010 14
FIGURE 7:FALSE-COLOUR COMPOSITE IMAGE OF THE PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
REGION, TAKEN JAN. 27, 2010 BY THE UAVSAR AIRBORNE RADAR
14
FIGURE 8:POLARIMETRIC COMPOSITE IMAGE OF MT. ST. HELENS TAKEN WITH
UAVSAR IN 2007 15
FIGURE 9: ILLUSTRATION OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

16

FIGURE 10: CONFIGURATION OF THE L-BAND RADAR ELECTRONICS AND

ANTENNA WITHIN THE POD STRUCTURE
18
FIGURE 11:ILLUSTRATES HOW THE VARIOUS ELECTRONICS SUBSYSTEMS OF
UAVSAR ARE ARRANGED WITH IN THE POD 19
FIGURE 12:THE T/R MODULE ARCHITECTURE WITH POWER AMPLIFIERS AT TOP;
BOTTOM SIDE: RECEIVERS, PHASE SHIFTERS, VOLTAGE REGULATORS, AND
CONTROLLER
24
FIGURE 13:OPERATIONAL SCENARIO OF THE UAVSAR-BASED SMART SENSOR,
PHASE SHIFTERS, VOLTAGE REGULATORS, AND CONTROLLER 29
FIGURE 14: HIGH LEVEL HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE OF THE UAVSAR SMART
SENSOR REGULATORS, AND CONTROLLER. 30
FIGURE 15:HIGH LEVEL HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE OF THE UAVSAR SMART
SENSOR REGULATORS, AND CONTROLLER 31

1. SYNTHATIC APERTURE RADAR

1.1

Overview

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar which is used to create images of objects,
such as landscapes these images can be either two or three dimensional representations of the
object. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a targeted region to provide finer spatial
resolution than is possible with conventional beam-scanning radars. SAR is typically mounted on
a moving platform such as an aircraft or spacecraft, and has its origins in an advanced form
of side-looking airborne radar (SLAR). The distance the SAR device travels over a target in the
4

time taken for the radar pulses to return to the antenna creates the large "synthetic" antenna
aperture (the "size" of the antenna). As a rule of thumb, the larger the aperture is, the higher the
image resolution will be, regardless of whether the aperture is physical (a large antenna) or
'synthetic' (a moving antenna) this allows SAR to create high resolution images with
comparatively small physical antennas. [1]

1.2

Working Principle (example)

Figure 1 shows an aircraft traveling with a constant velocity v along a straight path. Its radar
antenna is mounted so as to radiate in the direction perpendicular to the direction of motion.Such
a radar is known as a side looking radar, or SLR. The x's in the figure represent the position of
the radar antenna each lime a pulse is transmitted. If the echo received at each position is stored
and if the last n pulses are combined (added together), the effect will be similar to a linear-array
antenna whose length is the distance traveled during the transmission of tile n pulses. The
"element" spacing of the synthesized antenna is equal to the distance traveled by the aircraft
between pulse transmissions, or dc = v Tp= v/fp, where T
is the pulse repetition period and. fp is the pulse-repetition frequency.[2]

1.3

Radar equation for SAR

In the literature on SAR, the radar equation is usually written with the signalto-noise ratio (SIN) on the left-hand side.

1.4

Resolution
The resolution in the cross-range dimension of a conventional antenna is

where R is the range and B is the beamwidth. The narrower the beamwidth, the better the
resolution.SAR permits the attainment of high resolution by using the motion of the vehicle to
generate the antenna aperture sequentially rather than simultaneously as with a conventional
array antenna. In this section, the radar may be thought of as carried by an aircraft. but similar
arguments apply for satellites or other moving vehicles.[2]

1.5

Equipment consideration

The synthetic-aperture radar requires a coherent reference signal and means for storing and
processing the radar echoes. The coherent reference is necessary Sine an angle measurement is a
measurement of phase from spatially separate positions. The effective length of the synthetic
aperture can be limited by the stability of the transmitter or the receiver. Since an angle
measurement is a measurement of phase from spatially separate positions. The heart of the SAR
is the processor which must provide the proper amplitude and phase weights to the stored pulses,
and sum them to obtain the image of the scene. Optical processors and digital processors have
both been used. Angular motions in yaw, roll, and pitch of the aircraft carrying the radar will
cause the real antenna beam to point incorrectly. To avoid degradation of the SAR due to angular
motions, the antenna must be stabilized.'." Roll and pitch angles can be stabilized by means of
gyroscopes. Yaw angle can be compensated by reference to a gyroscope or by" clutter-lock "
motions, the antenna must be stabilized. Roll and pitch angles can be stabilized by means of
6

gyroscopes. Yaw angle can be compensated by reference to a gyroscope or by clutter-lock" in

which the antenna position is adjusted so as to maintain a symmetrical doppler spectrum in
which the antenna position is adjusted so as to maintain a symmetrical Doppler spectrum about
zero frequency. Thus both motion compensation and antenna stabilization are necessary to
achieve the resolution inherent in an SAR.

1.6

Optical processing

In a synthetic aperture radar the coherent echo signals Sn from each range interval must be
stored, without loss of phase, over the time interval required to form the. In optical processing,
the electrical signals at the radar output are converted to optical images on film. The weighting,
filtering, and summation of signals are accomplished with the proper, optical lenses and
transparencies. Optical processing is basically two dimensional so that processing in the range
coordinate is possible with the same apparatus. The output of the images on film. The weighting,
filtering, and summation of signals are accomplished with the proper optical lenses and
transparencies. Optical processing is basically two dimensional so that processing in the range
coordinate is possible with the same apparatus. The SAR optical processor is a map like
photographic film of the terrain, as in Fig. below. The SAR produces images without the slantrange distortion that occurs with the photographic camera produces images without the slantrange distortion that occurs with the photographic camera. [2]

FIGURE 2: SYNTATHIC APERTURE RADAR IMAGE OF SAN DIAGO

FIGURE 3:
OPTICAL PROCESSOR FOR SYNTATHIC APERTURE RADAR

2.

INTRODUCTION UAVSAR
UAVSAR is a NASA L-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture) compact pod-mounted polar metric
instrument for interferometric repeat-track observations that is being developed at JPL and at
8

the NASA/DFRC (Dryden Flight Research Center) in Edwards, CA. The radar will be
designed to be operable on a UAV (Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle) but will initially be
demonstrated on a on a NASA Gulfstream III aircraft (C-20A/G-III). The system will
nominally operate at altitudes of ~ 13,800 m. The program was initiated in the timeframe
2003/4 as an Instrument Incubator Project (IIP) funded by ESTO (Earth Science and
Technology Office) of NASA.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
The UAVSAR radar is designed from the beginning as a miniaturized polarimetric L-band radar
for repeat-pass and single-pass interferometry with options for a long-track interferometry and
additional frequencies of operation. By designing the radar to be housed in an external
unpressurized pod, it has the potential to be readily ported to other platforms such as the Predator
or Global Hawk UAVs. Initial testing is being carried out with the NASA Gulfstream III aircraft,
which has been modified to accommodate the radar pod and has been equipped with precision
autopilot capability developed by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
The UAVSAR project will also serve as a technology test bed. As a modular instrument with
numerous plug-and-play components, it will be possible to test new technologies for airborne
and space borne applications.

Figure 4: UAVSAR radar pod attached to Gulf Stream III, showing rectangular
antenna radome.

3.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of the side-looking UAVSAR instrument is to accurately map crustal
deformations associated with natural hazards, such as volcanoes and earthquakes. Topographic
information is derived from phase measurements that, in turn, are obtained from two or more
passes over a given target region. The frequency of operation, approximately 1.26 GHz, results
in radar images that are well-correlated from pass to pass. Polarization agility facilitates terrain
and land-use classification.
UAVSAR is a NASA L-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture) compact pod-mounted polarimetric
instrument for interferometric repeat-track observations that is being developed at JPL and at
the NASA/DFRC (Dryden Flight Research Center) in Edwards, CA. The radar will be
designed to be operable on a UAV (Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle) but will initially be
demonstrated on a on a NASA Gulfstream III aircraft (C-20A/G-III). The system will
nominally operate at altitudes of ~ 13,800 m. The program was initiated in the timeframe
2003/4 as an Instrument Incubator Project (IIP) funded by ESTO (Earth Science and
Technology Office) of NASA.

4.

CHALLENGES

The design of the UAVSAR focuses on two key challenges:

First, repeat pass measurements need to be taken from flight paths that are nearly identical. This
instrument utilizes real-time GPS that interfaces with the platform flight management system
(FMS) to confine the repeat flight path to within a 10 m tube over a 200 km course in conditions
10

of calm to light turbulence. The FMS is also referred to as the PPA (Platform Precision
Autopilot).
Secondly, the radar vector from the aircraft to the ground target area must be similar from pass
to pass. This is accomplished with an actively scanned antenna designed to support electronic
steering of the antenna beam with a minimum of 1 increments over a range to exceed 15 in the
flight direction.

5.

STATUS OF THE UAVSAR IMPLEMENTATION AND CAMPAIGN

SERVICES

i)

October 25, 2012: NASA/JPL researchers have developed a method to use a specialized
NASA 3-D imaging radar to characterize the oil in oil spills, such as the 2010 BP
Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The research can be used to improve
response operations during future marine oil spills.
UAVSAR characterizes an oil spill by detecting variations in the roughness of its r thick
slicks, changes in the electrical conductivity of its surface layer. Just as an airport runway
looks smooth compared to surrounding fields, UAVSAR "sees" an oil spill at sea as a
smoother (radar-dark) area against the rougher (radar-bright) ocean surface because most
of the radar energy that hits the smoother surface is deflected away from the radar
antenna. UAVSAR's high sensitivity and other capabilities enabled the team to separate
thick and thin oil for the first time using a radar system.

11

Figure 5: NASA UAVSAR image of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, collected
June 23, 2010
Legend to Figure 5: The oil appears much darker than the surrounding seawater in the greyscale
image. This is because the oil smoothes the sea surface and reduces its electrical conductivity,
causing less radar energy to bounce back to the UAVSAR antenna. Additional processing of the
data by the UAVSAR team produced the two inset color images, which reveal the variability of
the oil spill's characteristics, from thicker, concentrated emulsions (shown in reds and yellows) to
minimal oil contamination (shown in greens and blues). Dark blues correspond to areas of clear
seawater bordering the oil slick.
ii)

On April 4, 2010, a major earthquake of magnitude 7.2 rocked Mexico's state of Baja
California and parts of the American Southwest. The El Mayor-Cucapah quake was
centered 52 km south-southeast of Calexico, CA, in northern Baja California. It occurred
along a geologically complex segment of the boundary between the North American and
Pacific tectonic plates. The quake, the region's largest in nearly 120 years, was also felt in
southern California and parts of Nevada and Arizona. It killed two, injured hundreds and
caused substantial damage. There have been thousands of aftershocks, extending from
near the northern tip of the Gulf of California to a few miles northwest of the U.S. border.
[10]
The UAVSAR aircraft provided SAR imagery of the earthquake region from over flights
on Oct. 21, 2009 and April 13, 2010. A JPL science team used the data from the two over
12

flights and generated interferograms of the earthquake region. Each UAVSAR flight
serves as a baseline for subsequent quake activity. The team estimates displacement for
each region, with the goal of determining how strain is partitioned between faults.

Figure 6:Overview of the UAVSAR interferogram of the magnitude 7.2 Baja

California earthquake of April 4, 2010, overlaid atop a Google Earth image of the
region.

iii)

In response to the Earthquake disaster in Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, NASA has added a series
of science over flights of earthquake faults in Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the
island of Hispaniola to a previously scheduled three-week airborne radar campaign to
Central America.

13

Figure 7:False-color composite image of the Port-au-Prince, Haiti region, taken Jan.
27, 2010 by the UAVSAR airborne radar.

Legend to Figure 7: The city is denoted by the yellow arrow; the black arrow points to the
fault responsible for the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake.\
iv)

First engineering test flights on the Gulfstream III aircraft of the UAVSAR instrument
started in September 2007 at Dryden. The sensor is undergoing a one-year development
and test period to improve robustness and validate its ability to meet the science
objectives.

Figure 8:Polarimetric composite image of Mt. St. Helens taken with UAVSAR in
2007
Legend to Figure 8: Within the caldera, the rising dome can be seen to the lower left. Two
glaciers that are being pushed together as the dome rises are clearly visible to the upper
14

right within the caldera. Although the UAVSAR data was collected when the peak was
covered in snow, much detail is visible in the L-band radar imagery. The volcanic caldera
dominates the image, with the dome visible to the lower left within the caldera. Two
glaciers within the caldera, to the upper right of the dome, are being pushed together as
the dome expands. The edge of Spirit Lake is at the upper center of the image and the tree
line is visible in green. - Repeat pass images of Mt. St. Helens will be used to measure
the dome deformation and the glacier movement.

6.

PURPOSE OF DESIGNING UAVSAR

From an implementation point of view, the objectives of the UAVSAR project are to:
1) Develop a miniaturized polarimetric L-band SAR for use on an UAV.
2) Develop the associated processing algorithms for repeat-pass differential interferometric
3)

measurements.
Conduct measurements of geophysical interest, particularly changes of rapidly
deforming surfaces such as volcanoes or earthquakes. [11]

7.

UAVSAR INSTRUMENT

The design features an AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) antenna which is
electronically steered along-track to assure that the antenna beam can be directed independently,
regardless of speed and wind direction. Other features supported by the antenna include elevation
mono pulse and pulse-to-pulse re-steering capabilities that will enable some novel modes of
operation. [11]

15

Figure 9: Illustration of the overall system configuration

The parameters for this interface are given below.

Table 1: UAVSAR instrument parameters

16

8.

UAVSAR MASS DISTRIBUTION

The UAVSAR system requires just under 2 kW of DC power when the radar is transmitting
L-band polarimetric RTI (Repeat Track Interferometric) SAR measurements. This is well
within the capacity of the Gulfstream III aircraft and many other platforms considered for
hosting the UAVSAR radar. The standby DC power is on the order of 150 W. The active
array antenna has a mass of < 50 kg; the mass of each T/R module is ~ 0.5 kg. The remainder
of the radar electronics in the payload bay has a mass of < 100 kg (approximately 20 kg for
the RFES (Radio Frequency Electronic Subsystem), 30 kg for the DES (Digital Electronic
Subsystem), and 30 kg for cabling, power distribution, etc.). The combined instrument mass
is < 230 kg.

Figure 10: Configuration of the L-band radar electronics and antenna

within the pod structure
17

9.

BLOCK DIAGRAM AND ITS EXPLANATION

18

The radar has been designed to minimize the number of interfaces with the aircraft for improved
portability. Way points for the desired flight paths are generated prior to flight by the G-III FMS
(Flight Management Subsystem) and loaded into the PPA (Platform Precision Autopilot) as well
as into the radar's ARC (Automatic Radar Controller) along with radar command information for
each waypoint.

a) Power subsystem
The aircraft provides 28 V DC power to the radar via the PDU (Power Distribution Unit),
which is also responsible for maintaining the thermal environment in the pod, and the radar
provides its real-time DGPS position data to the aircraft for use by the Precision Autopilot.

b) Digital electronic subsystem

DES provides the overall timing and control signals for the radar as well as the telemetry and
data acquisition functions.
i.

ARC(automatic radar controller)

The ARC (Automatic Radar Controller) is the main control computer for the radar and
controls all major functions of the radar during flight. It is designed to operate in a fully
autonomous mode or to accept commands from the ROW (Radar Operator
Workstation) either through an Ethernet connection on crewed platforms or through an
19

Iridium modem for unpiloted platforms.The ARC is providing coordination and control of
all the radar subsystems. ARC can be operated in in two primary modes, manual mode and
automatic mode.In automatic mode the ARC tracks the aircraft trajectory using data from the
INU (Inertial Navigation Unit) and initiates power state transitions, data take start and end and
other housekeeping functions based on proximity to predefined waypoints uploaded from the
ROW prior to flight. The ARC flight software uses VxWorks as its operating system.

In addition to commanding the radar timing unit during science data collection, the
ARC flight software handles the embedded GPS/INU telemetry collection, tracks the
aircraft flight path, performs electronic beam steering calculations, updates attenuation
parameters and monitors temperatures inside the pod.The UAVSAR radar can operate
in a number of complex modes including multi-polarization, multi-frequency and multiantenna modes of operation.

ii.

CTU (control and timing unit)

The CTU (Control and Timing Unit) controls the timing of all the transmit and receive
events in the radar timeline and thus interacts with many of the radar digital and radio
frequency (RF) electronics. The active array antenna consists of 24 130 W L-band
Transmit/Receive (TR) modules that feed 48 radiating elements within the 0.5 m by 1.5
m array.

c) ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM
i.

Antenna

20

The antenna is designed to radiate orthogonal linear polarizations for fully-polarimetric

measurements. Beam-pointing requirements for repeat-pass SAR interferometry
necessitate electronic scanning in azimuth over a range of 20 to compensate for
aircraft yaw. Beam-steering is accomplished by transmit / receive (T/R) modules and a
beamforming network implemented in a stripline circuit board.[12]
The antenna aperture comprises 48 patch antenna elements arranged as an array of 4
elements in elevation by 12 elements in azimuth. The elevation spacing of the elements
is 10 cm and the azimuth spacing is 12.5 cm. The corresponding aperture size is 0.4 m x
1.5 m, but the antenna groundplane is larger (0.6 m x 1.75 m) to accommodate the
various antenna electronics subassemblies, and also to facilitate operation with existing
P-band equipment. [12]
The antenna elements are single-layer microstrip patches (~ 8 cm x 8 cm in size) on a
low-permittivity dielectric, fabricated from fiberglass honeycomb. The patch elements
are fed with two probes for each polarization to provide the required bandwidth over
scan. The elements are capable of radiating both horizontal (H) and vertical (V)
polarization. [12].

ii.

Transmitting /Receiving modules

There are 24 T/R modules feeding elements pair-wise in elevation. This architecture
facilitates beam scanning in azimuth also enables short-baseline cross-track
interferometry between the antenna upper and lower halves, while using the minimum
number of T/R modules. A bank of four T/R modules is fed from a single ESS (Energy
Storage Subsystem) - essentially a custom DC/DC converter that provides 32 V DC
21

power at up to 47 A pulsed. The T/R modules are configured to transmit either an Hpulse or a V-pulse, and to receive both an H-pulse and V-pulse simultaneously. The
peak power of the T/R modules is 100 W, and the maximum duty cycle is 5%. The
average and peak RF powers radiated by the antenna are 93 W and 1.86 kW,
respectively (assuming losses of 1.1dB). The T/R modules are cooled by means of an
air duct that runs along the length of the antenna. The air velocity in the duct is
controlled to maintain a relatively low thermal gradient across the T/R modules .[12]
Beamforming is implemented by a combination of phase shifters and attenuators in the
T/R modules, and by means of a network of printed circuit manifolds. The T/R module
vendor, Remec Defense and Space Inc., is designing custom L-band MMICs to
implement the phase shifter and LNA functions of the T/R module. There are four RF
manifolds: one for transmit, two for receive (one for H and one for V), and one for
calibration. Separate manifolds are provided for the upper and lower halves of the
antenna to facilitate short baseline cross-track interferometry. The manifolds consist of
two 12-way corporate dividers fabricated as stripline transmission lines in multi-layer
printed circuit boards that are located between the two rows of T/R modules. The
common ports of the 12-ways are connected to a switching network that routes receive,
transmit, and calibrations signals to and from the RF electronics, as required by the
radar operating mode [12].

iii.

Transmitting /Receiving antenna controller(TRAC)

The T/R modules and antenna switch network are controlled through a digital
interface called the T/R antenna controller (TRAC). The TRAC receives
command and timing information from flight software and a hardware interface
called the central timing unit (CTU), and in turn feeds LVDS serial data to the
T/R modules through twisted-pair cables [13].

22

iv.

The T/R module block diagram

The T/R module block diagram is shown in Fig. 12. The module comprises two sides.
The top side is populated with the power amplifiers of the transmit chain, polarization
switch, calibration coupler, and circulators. The bottom side has receiver subassemblies (comprising LNA, attenuator and phase shifter), the transmit phase shifter,
CPLD controller, memory, drivers, receive protection switches, and voltage regulators.
[13]

23

Figure 12: The T/R module architecture with power amplifiers at top; bottom side:
receivers, phase shifters, voltage regulators, and controller

v.

Calibration
In order to form a beam that is scanned to the proper direction, it is necessary to
calibrate the T/R modules and associated beamforming network. This calibration
procedure is essentially a process of equalizing the phase and amplitude of each RF
path to and from a particular antenna port. In transmit mode, compressed operation of
the amplifiers prevents amplitude trimming with attenuators, so modules are positioned
in the array to as to form a power taper that is symmetric about the azimuth and
elevation directions. In receive mode, amplitude is trimmed to within 0.5 dB using a 5bit digital attenuator [13].
Considerable simplification of the calibration process is obtained as a result of the
accuracy, linearity, isolation, and predictable temperature dependence of the
beamforming networks. However, even with these simplifying attributes, calibration of
this 24-element active array (as currently configured) is both labor-intensive and timeconsuming [13].

ELECTRICAL PARAMETERS

Table 2: UAVSAR electrical parameters

24

 MECHNICAL PARAMETERS

Table 3: UAVSAR mechanical parameters

25

 ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS

Table 4: UAVSAR environmental parameters

10. PLANNED UAVSAR ONBOARD PROCESSING CAPABILITIES

A future extension of the UAVSAR system calls for an autonomous disturbance
detection and monitoring system with imaging radar that combines the unique
capabilities of the imaging radar with high throughput onboard processing technology
and onboard automated response capability based on specific science algorithms. This
smart sensor development leverages off recently developed technologies in real-time
onboard synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processor and onboard automated response
software as well as science algorithms previously developed for radar remote sensing
applications. [14]

26

The challenges are the radar's high raw data rate, requiring large onboard data storage
and high downlink capability, and low data latency, requiring delivery of perishable
information in time to be of use. Recent onboard SAR processor development (for the
DoD Space Based Radar program) is the first step towards reducing the downlink data
rate. High fidelity polarimetric and interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing
technology will reduce the downlink data rate by hundreds of orders of magnitude. In
particular, the onboard processing capability will contribute to several radar-based
mission concepts for monitoring natural hazards and the global carbon cycle. Forest fire
and hurricane-induced damages on coastal landscapes and forests are considered the
two most important disturbances of natural ecosystems and threats to human habitats.
The change detection concept under development is based on the NASA's AIST-02
(Advanced Information Systems Technology) project to provide innovative on-orbit
and ground capabilities for the communication, processing, and management of
remotely sensed data and the efficient generation of data products and knowledge. The
ASE (Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment) implementation on the EO-1 (Earth
Observing-1) mission, operational as of 2008 and providing automated disturbance
detection and a monitoring capability for forest fire and hurricane-induced damages
applications, serves as a conceptual starter for the smart sensor implementation on
UAVSAR.

i)

UAVSAR smart sensor concept

In the UAVSAR smart sensor concept (Figure 13), raw data from the radar
observation are routed to the onboard processor via a high-speed serial interface.
The onboard processor will perform SAR image formation in real time on two raw
data streams, which could be data of two different polarization combinations or
data from two different interferometric channels. The onboard processor will
generate real-time high resolution imagery for both channels. The onboard

27

processor will also execute calibration routines and science algorithms appropriate
for the specific radar application.

Figure 13: Operational scenario of the UAVSAR-based smart sensor, phase

shifters, Autonomous
voltage regulators,
controller
detection and
is performed
by an intelligent software routine designed to
detect specific disturbances based on the results of science processing. If no
change is detected, the process stops and the results are logged. If change due to
specific disturbances is detected, the onboard automated response software will
plan new observations to continue monitoring the progression of the disturbance.
The new observation plan is routed to the spacecraft or aircraft computer to retarget the platform for new radar observations.

28

The hardware for the prototype autonomous system is a self-contained VME

chassis with single board computers and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array)
processor boards, high-speed serial interfaces for data routing, and Ethernet
connection for processor control (Figure 9). The VME (Virtual Machine
Environment)-based change detection on-board processor (CDOP) consists of two
custom FPGA boards with two Xilinx Virtex II-Pro FPGAs each and large highspeed SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) to perform real-time SAR image
formation, a custom fiber-channel-to-RocketIO interface card to handle the data
transfer rate in excess of 1 Gbit/s between the UAVSAR, processor components,
and onboard memory.Two identical FPGA boards are utilized in order to perform
SAR image formation of two raw data channels concurrently. COTS G4 PowerPC
cards

are

used

for

preprocessing

and

polarimetric

or

interferometric

postprocessing. The processor control software consists of realtime, multi-threaded

code that is running on the G4 CPU to route data from UAVSAR's data acquisition
controller to the two FPGA processors and to generate processor parameters for
two processor channels respectively.

Figure 14: High level hardware architecture of the UAVSAR smart sensor
regulators, and controller.
The G4 PowerPC post-processor will perform the science data processing task,
whereas autonomous detection and monitoring capability, as well as the CASPER
(Continuous Activity Scheduling Planning Execution and Replanning) software,
will reside either on UAVSAR's Radar Operator's Workstation (ROW) or a
separate laptop computer.
The UAVSAR onboard processor data flow is shown in Figure 8. Live and/or
archived raw data are first unpacked and reformatted before being routed to the
29

FPGA processor. The preprocessor generates the phase correction factors for
motion compensation and processing parameters for SAR image formation from
the ephemeris data. In the FPGA processor, range compression focuses the image
in the cross track direction. The presum module resamples the pulses to a userspecified along track location and spacing to reduce the number of pulses to
process in the along track (azimuth) direction while reducing the noise on each
radar pulse.
Motion compensation is the process where the radar signal data are resampled
from the actual path of the antenna to an idealized path called the reference path.
This process is necessary to align the phase centers of two data channels to the
same reference path to ensure maximum correlation. Azimuth processing focuses
the image in the along track direction. Radiometric and phase calibrations are
necessary to generate polarimetric or interferometric science data products.
The post-processor geolocates the two SAR images with information from the
ephemeris data and generates application-specific science data products such as the
biomass and fuel load map. The science data products are routed via Ethernet to a
laptop or UAVSAR's ROW for disturbance detection and monitoring.

Figure 15: High level hardware architecture of the UAVSAR smart

sensor regulators, and controller.
30

11. REFERENCES
1).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_aperture_radar
2)

Merrill

I.

Skolnik,

INTRODUCTION

TO

RADAR

SYSTEMS,MCGRAW-HILL

INTERNATIONAL BOOK COMPANY,1983.

3)https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/airborne-sensors/uavsar
4) S. Hensley, K. Wheeler, G. Sadowy, C. Jones, S. Shaffer, H. Zebker, T. Miller, B. Heavey, E.
Chuang, R. Chao, K. Vines, K. Nishimoto, J. Prater, B. Carrico, N. Chamberlain, J. Shimada, M.
Simard, B. Chapman, R. Muellerschoen, C. Le, T. Michel, G. Hamilton, D. Robison, G.
Neumann, R. Meyer, P. Smith, J. Granger, P. Rosen, D. Flower, R. Smith, The UAVSAR
Instrument: Description and Test Plans, NSTC2007 (NASA Science and Technology
Conference

2007),

College

Park,

MD,

USA,

June

19-21,

2007,

URL:

http://esto.nasa.gov/conferences/nstc2007/papers/Hensley_Scott_B4P1_NSTC-07-0036.pdf
5) P. A. Rosen, S. Hensley, K.. Wheeler, G. Sadowy, T. Miller, S. Shaffer, R.. Muellerschoen, C.
Jones, H.. Zebker, S. Madsen, UAVSAR: A New NASA Airborne SAR System for Science and
Technology Research, 2006 IEEE Conference on Radar, April 24-27, 2006, Verona, NY, USA,
URL: http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/40223/1/06-0357.pdf
6) S. N. Madsen, S. Hensley, K. Wheeler, G. A. Sadowy, T. Miller, R. Muellerschoen, Y. Lou, P.
A. Rosen, UAV-based L-band SAR with precision flight path control, Proceedings of SPIE,
'Enabling Sensor and Platform Technologies for Spaceborne Remote Sensing,' George J. Komar,
Jinxue Wang, Toshiyoshi Kimura, Editors, Vol. 5659, January 2005, pp. 51-60
7) J. Lee, B. Strovers, V. Lin, C-20A/GIII Precision Autopilot Development In Support of
NASA's UAVSAR Program, NSTC2007, College Park, MD, USA, June 19-21, 2007, URL:
http://esto.nasa.gov/conferences/nstc2007/papers/Lee_James_B4P3_NSTC-07-0013.pdf
31

8) N. Chamberlain, M. Zawadzki, G. Sadowy, E. Oakes, K. Brown, R. Hodges, The UAVSAR

Phased Array Aperture, Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE/AIAA Aerospace Conference, Big Sky,
MT,

USA,

March

4-11,

2006,

URL:

http://trs-

new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/38533/1/05-3868.pdf
9) N. Chamberlain, G. Sadowy, The UAVSAR Transmit / Receive Module, Proceedings of the
2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, USA, March 1-8, 2008
10 )NASA Radar Images Show How Mexico Quake Deformed Earth, NASA, June 22, 2010,
URL: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/UAVSAR20100623.html
11) http://uavsar.jpl.nasa.gov/
12) N. Chamberlain, M. Zawadzki, G. Sadowy, E. Oakes, K. Brown, R. Hodges, The UAVSAR
Phased Array Aperture, Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE/AIAA Aerospace Conference, Big Sky,
MT,

USA,

March

4-11,

2006,

URL:

http://trs-

new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/38533/1/05-3868.pdf
13) N. Chamberlain, G. Sadowy, The UAVSAR Transmit / Receive Module, Proceedings of
the 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, USA, March 1-8, 2008
14) Y. Lou, S. Chien, R. Muellerschoen, S. Saatchi, Autonomous Disturbance Detection and
Monitoring System with UAVSAR, NSTC2007 (NASA Science and Technology Conference
2007),

College

Park,

MD,

USA,

June

19-21,

2007,

URL:

http://esto.nasa.gov/conferences/nstc2007/papers/Lou_Yunling_B4P2_NSTC-07-0095.pdf

32