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Advances in Synthetic Aperture Radar: Calibration, Analysis and Application (Third Edition)

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Engineering Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2026 | Viewed by 705

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Lamei Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150006, China
Interests: radar polarimetry; synthetic aperture radar; image processing; SAR intelligent interpretation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hao Shi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Radar Technology Research Institute, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: image processing; SAR image intelligent interpretation; object detection and recognization
Prof. Dr. Deliang Xiang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Information Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Interests: multimodal remote sensing intelligent information processing; SAR/PolSAR image interpretation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following the success of the previous Special Issue "Advances in Synthetic Aperture Radar: Calibration, Analysis, and Application", we are now launching another edition.

Over the last decade, the study of human–environment relationships has become more important, since we have begun to ask how to utilize and protect the environment, how to build and optimize sustainable infrastructure, and how to prepare and respond to disasters more effectively. In order to find the answers to these questions, we usually need to collect global, continuous, and/or precise environmental information using remote sensing methods. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is known for its imaging potential in situations where darkness, clouds, or smoke would obscure the view of optical sensors, so it is often used for observing the environment. Scientific and technical innovations in calibration, information extraction, new imaging techniques, and algorithm adjusting for various specific applications are currently in demand for their integration into SARs.

This Special Issue aims to comprise studies covering almost all of the topics related to SAR. Hence, studies that focus on the basic theory, calibration, data processing, image interpretation such as decomposition algorithms, and various applications of SAR are welcome. Articles may address, but are not limited, to the following topics:

  • Calibration for SAR data;
  • SAR applications;
  • Present and future SAR systems and missions;
  • Electromagnetic modeling;
  • InSAR and high-resolution SAR;
  • POL and POLInSAR;
  • Bistatic SAR;
  • SAR/GMTI/STAP and change detection;
  • Image filtering, correction, and enhancement;
  • SAR/ISAR signal processing;
  • Advanced and innovative SAR concepts and modes;
  • Artificial intelligence algorithms and their applications in SARs.

Prof. Dr. Lamei Zhang
Dr. Hao Shi
Prof. Dr. Deliang Xiang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • synthetic aperture radar
  • PolSAR, InSAR, and POLInSAR
  • calibration
  • signal processing
  • SAR applications
  • SAR intelligent interpretation

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5105 KB  
Article
Radiometric Performance Monitoring Method for LuTan-1 Satellites Combining Internal Calibration and Field Calibration
by Yulin Yao, Mingxia Zhang, Bopeng Yang, Hang Zhao, Qijin Han and Minghui Hou
Remote Sens. 2026, 18(11), 1856; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18111856 - 5 Jun 2026
Viewed by 155
Abstract
The Lutan-1 (LT-1) mission is the first civilian L-band differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system in China, with interferometry as its primary application. The system comprises two multi-polarimetric satellites, LT-1A and LT-1B. For the purpose of quantitative application from SAR images of [...] Read more.
The Lutan-1 (LT-1) mission is the first civilian L-band differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system in China, with interferometry as its primary application. The system comprises two multi-polarimetric satellites, LT-1A and LT-1B. For the purpose of quantitative application from SAR images of Lutan-1 satellites, the relationship between the SAR image intensity and the backscattering coefficient of ground objects should be established by radiometric calibration. Field radiometric calibration provides absolute calibration constants, but it suffers from beam coverage. Internal on-board calibration, by contrast, tracks relative changes in radiometric performance but cannot yield absolute calibration constants. Therefore, we develop a method that combines on-board internal calibration with field radiometric calibration to monitor the radiometric performance of LT-1 satellites and to analyze the variation patterns revealed by both internal and field calibrations. We monitor the amplitude and phase trend of internal calibration, calculate absolute calibration constants from field calibration, and refine and evaluate the absolute calibration constants. We analyzed the internal calibration data and SAR calibration data of the LT-1 satellite from 2023 to 2025. The results show that the TRMs of the LT-1 satellite exhibit a slight decline over time, and the magnitude of the decrease in LT-1B is greater than that of LT-1A. The slight decrease in internal calibration has not yet led to visible changes in the absolute calibration constant for LT-1A, while the absolute calibration constants decrease slightly for LT-1B. After removing the calibration constant outliers and correcting the gain difference among the beams for the LT-1A satellite, absolute radiometric accuracy is improved from 0.40 dB (1σ) to 0.25 dB (1σ). The absolute radiometric accuracy of the LT-1B satellite is 0.38 dB (1σ). It gives a reference for radiometric performance monitoring of the SAR satellite over a long period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Synthetic Aperture Radar: Calibration, Analysis and Application (Third Edition))
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29 pages, 75942 KB  
Article
A Novel In-Orbit Approach for Spaceborne SAR Absolute Radiometric Calibration Using a Small Calibration Satellite
by Tian Qiu, Pengbo Wang, Yu Wang, Tao He and Jie Chen
Remote Sens. 2026, 18(9), 1317; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18091317 - 25 Apr 2026
Viewed by 284
Abstract
Accurate absolute radiometric calibration is critical for ensuring the data quality of spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems and supporting quantitative remote sensing applications. Absolute radiometric calibration generally relies on ground reference targets with known radar cross-section (RCS) deployed at dedicated calibration sites. [...] Read more.
Accurate absolute radiometric calibration is critical for ensuring the data quality of spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems and supporting quantitative remote sensing applications. Absolute radiometric calibration generally relies on ground reference targets with known radar cross-section (RCS) deployed at dedicated calibration sites. Such ground-based calibration methods are costly and time-consuming, and calibration frequency is constrained by the distribution of calibration sites and the satellite revisit cycles. Additionally, for specialized SAR missions, such as deep space exploration, deploying calibration equipment on the observed extraterrestrial surface is infeasible. This study proposes a space-based absolute calibration concept using a small calibration satellite carrying a well-characterized reference (e.g., a passive reflector or an active transponder) and flying in formation with the SAR satellite. The relative motion ensures a side-looking acquisition geometry, enabling the SAR to image the accompanying target and derive calibration factors. The overall calibration process is divided into two stages: determination of an in-orbit calibration factor using the calibration satellite, followed by its transformation to accommodate ground imaging conditions. This method effectively isolates the radar system gain to characterize the intrinsic hardware response. Furthermore, by operating entirely in space, it avoids atmospheric and ground-clutter distortions, ensuring a fully space-based, end-to-end calibration process dominated primarily by sensor systematic errors. Moreover, it allows for more frequent and flexible calibration, eliminating reliance on ground calibration sites and infrastructure. The feasibility and advantages of the proposed concept are demonstrated through comprehensive simulations, covering orbit analysis, echo simulation, and image processing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Synthetic Aperture Radar: Calibration, Analysis and Application (Third Edition))
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