NASA's L-Band Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar

Abstract

The Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR) is a state-of-the-art L-band radar that employs advanced radar technology and a customized data acquisition and real-time processor in order to enable multimode measurement techniques in a single radar platform. DBSAR serves as a test bed for the development, implementation, and testing of digital beamforming radar techniques applicable to Earth science and planetary measurements. DBSAR flew its first field campaign on board the National Aeronautics and Space Administration P3 aircraft in October 2008, demonstrating enabling techniques for scatterometry, synthetic aperture, and altimetry.