Design and implementation of a mechanical system for a ground based synthetic aperture radar with automatic antenna pointing: Preliminary results

Abstract

Melting of the snow covering the Andes mountains is a negative result of climate change. It affects the ecosystem that surrounds the snow peaks causing the loss of water resources the human life. Motivated by this situation, scientists are studying the variation of snow throughout seasons in the Andes. In order to contribute with this type of measurements, the Geophysical Institute of Peru is developing at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory a portable Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system that would be utilized to measure the variation of dry snow in the snowcapped mountains in Peru. The system will work in C-band and it will be able to operate in two different modes: Stripmap and Spotlight. In this work, we are presenting the SAR's design, specifically, the advances in the development of the horn antennas and the mechanical structure of the radar.