The term SAR describes a
way of synthesising a very large array antenna over a
finite period of time by using a series of returns
from a much smaller physical antenna that is moving relative
to the target. By synthesising a large array, the synthetic
aperture radar can enjoy the benefits of
improved angular resolution that come with large antennas without the
problems associated with large antennas. In fact, we see that
much larger synthetic apertures can be formed than would be
possible using a real antenna.
Other topics in our resources on Radar related to SAR include: