Student Paper 1.7
MATLAB-based ERS SAR data acquisition and processing software for classroom use

Avinash V. Uppuluri - Utah State University, Randy J. Jost - Utah State University

Tue, 27 April 2004, 9:30 AM - 10:20 AM

Abstract

This paper provides a review into the steps involved in acquiring and processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, transmitted by the European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellites. The objective of the paper is to report on a simple MATLAB-based SAR processing system, that would read the image out of the complex SAR data files and that is suitable for use in the classroom to demonstrate one of the procedures used in SAR data processing. This paper would also help a beginner in the field of SAR signal processing to get information and understand the basics that would be necessary to acquire and process a SAR image. The data, provided by the Alaskan Satellite Facility (ASF), is categorized into different levels and this paper describes the process of obtaining the level-1 basic image from the level-0 raw data file provided by ASF.

Bios

Avinash Uppuluri received his B.E degree in Electronics Engineering from Regional College of Engineering and Technology at Surat, India, in 2002. He is currently working towards his M.S in Electrical Engineering at Utah State University. He is a student member of the IEEE and his research interests include image processing and radar signal processing.

Dr. Randy J. Jost - Utah State University

Dr. Randy J. Jost is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, at Utah State University, which he joined in January of 2001. His areas of research interest include radar and microwave engineering, remote sensing, electromagnetic compatibility, computational electromagnetics, and electromagnetic measurement range characterization. He was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and received his BSEE, MSEE and PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia. After completing his graduate studies, he taught at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) from 1984-1988, in Dayton, Ohio, having received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force in 1982. Upon leaving AFIT, he worked for the Air Force Research Laboratory, at Wright-Patterson AFB until 1991. From 1991 to 1996, he worked as a Program Manager for SRI, International in Rosslyn, Virginia. During this period, he also served as an IPA for the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for two years. In 1996, he moved to Las Cruces, NM and took a position as the Technical Director/Director of Engineering for Johnson Controls, the operations and maintenance contractor at the National RCS Test Facility, located at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. He served in this capacity from 1996 through 2000. Randy is an active reservist for the Air Force, and is currently a Lieutenant Colonel assigned to the Directed Energy Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, working on the development high power microwave systems. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, of which he has been a member since 1978.