Abstract:
In Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging, a plane or satellite
carrying an antenna flies along a (usually straight) flight path.
The antenna emits pulses of electromagnetic radiation; this radiation
scatters off the terrain and is received back at the same antenna.
These signals are used to produce an image of the terrain.
One of the key technologies involved in SAR imaging is mathematics. This talk will show some SAR images, explain the basic ideas behind the formation of high-resolution images, discuss connections with scattering theory, integral geometry and microlocal analysis, and finally suggest some open problems that need mathematical attention.