X-Band Linear Rail SAR Imaging

[Greg Charvat] really wanted high resolution X-Band linear rail SAR imaging system. He wanted it bad enough to scrounge through parts at HAM radio swap meets until he had the bits to build one himself. The unit is used to take high resolution radar imaging. For example, the image above is constructed of push pins behind a foam wall. The synthetic aperture radar system came in at roughly  $250. Not bad at all. You may have to dig through the links a bit to find the build information. Be sure to check out the hardware gallery and the schematics(pdf).

[via Makezine]

17 thoughts on “X-Band Linear Rail SAR Imaging

  1. SAR and ISAR imaging require a lot of heavy processing, as for 1.4 inch range resolution you have to apply some pretty clever tricks to get it that low. RADAR is a pretty in depth field so kudos to the guy that built it.

  2. This is impressive, did anybody see on the site how fine the scanning resolution is? Not the penetration depth, but how small an object it would register. As soon as I began reading I thought of Snow Crash and the RadiKS Smartwheels.

  3. “I am able to understand radar, construct the hardware and provide an access point to a computer. for a high resolution radar system. Now gosh darn it, I wish I knew how to use a computer.”

    The Linux vs. Windows game is so tired, please go to a place that cares fartface.

  4. “The horn antenna may be replaced with a programable beam patch antenna to simplify the moving parts.”

    No. The whole point of Synthetic Aperture Radar is to physically scan a small aperture along a track, effectively synthesizing a large aperture (narrow beam-width).

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