Bistatic GB-SAR with moving transponder

Ground synthetic aperture radar (GB-SAR) systems are popular remote sensors able to detect small displacements in different operative scenarios: landslides, glaciers, mines, urban areas, bridges, towers… Current GB-SAR synthetize large aperture by moving the antennas along a linear mechanical rail or rotating an arm. In this paper a novel bistatic GB-SAR with moving transponder is proposed. The transponder, that consists of two antennas and an amplifier, moves independently of the radar, but it can retrieve its own position and attitude by combining the data of an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a suitable vision system, and the back-reflected radar signal. The performance and the potential of this bistatic GBSAR system have been experimentally evaluated.