Applications development for multifrequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) missions

The design and upcoming launch of new multi-frequency SAR mission concepts, like the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) mission, as well as an unprecedented availability of SAR data in different microwave bands are going to influence the downstream development considerably, especially in the way new Earth Observation (EO) applications can be designed. 

The free-data policy of NISAR in conjunction with that of the Copernicus constellations, as well as the access to the UK S-band NovaSAR-1 data that UK research centers will be granted, make the investigation of multifrequency SAR technologies and techniques very timely. 

During the PhD, the student will have to develop an EO application based primarily on the use of multi-frequency SAR, initially test it by means of simulations (and/or, if accessible, on data from airborne demonstrators like the ISRO ASAR dual L+S band SAR) and finally on real space borne SAR datasets.

The application to select will be investigated in the first year, by a thorough analysis of backscattering models for different targets and conditions, while second and third years will be respectively dedicated to the design, implementation and validation of the algorithms (image processing, feature extraction, change detection according to what the application requires). The use of real data is very much encouraged.

For informal discussions please contact Dr Guida.