Estimation of the velocity vector of moving targets from SAR images

The SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a radar which acquires synthesized images with high resolution independently from the weather conditions; for these reasons the SAR plays an important role in remote sensing, when high resolution and temporal continuity are required. In the past, SAR systems main goals were the study of the interaction between electromagnetic waves and the Earth surface. Quickly the intrinsic capability of this instrument to analyze the dynamic characteristics of the observed objects and the changes of the requirements of the users made the SAR particularly fit for moving target detection in commercial, surveillance and strategic context. The development of recent multi-channel SAR systems enables the development of sophisticated techniques for the surveillance of moving objects, making this field very active research area. This book addresses this particular problem by presenting an analysis of the effects of the moving targets in SAR images and by proposing two methodologies to estimate the velocity vector of objects in motion.