Motion compensation of a wideband synthetic aperture radar with a new transponder technique

A high resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system called phased array multifunctional imaging radar (PAMIR) is currently under development at FGAN. This system uses a very high bandwidth and performs a coherent integration along a large synthetic aperture. Problems in the area of calibration and motion compensation arise which can't be solved using common tools like corner reflectors. This paper describes the construction of active transponders which modulate and re-radiate radar pulses, discusses the advantages for calibration and shows how the echoes can be used for motion compensation in the SAR processing.