A SAR for Real-Time Ice Reconnaissance

Prior research has shown that open water first-year ice and multi-year ice can be distinguished on an image obtained by a Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). A small lightweight SAR, STAR-1, has been built that employs this capability for support of engineering operations for oil exploration in the Arctic. The SAR is a fully focused side-looking system capable of mapping either side of the aircraft. It has two modes, wide swath, which covers 45 km, and high resolution, which covers 22 km. The azimuth resolution is 6 m for both modes, with a range resolution of 12 m in the wide swath and 6 meters in the high resolution mode. The instrument is installed in a Cessna 441 Conquest capable of flying at high altitudes with minimum fuel consumption. An image is produced in real time by a digital image formation processing system aboard the aircraft. This image is transmitted to a ground station via a data link where a hardcopy is formed on heat-developed film.