Synthetic aperture radar at small scale

Radar systems have proven to be more adapted than cameras systems for many applications. Their main advantage is that they do not suffer of atmospheric conditions such as brightness, weather and others. However, classical radar systems are limited in resolution. To overcome this shortcoming, Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs) have been developed. This widely spread imaging technique consists in moving a radar on a platform. By using the radar displacement, the resolution of the recovered image can be enhanced with regards to classical radar systems. Most SAR systems are used at large scale to perform cartography, echo-location and others. In this master thesis, we develop and validate a model and a physical system to perform SAR imaging at small scale using Frequency Modulated Continuous Waves (FMCW). We first develop a mathematical model to describe the problem, starting from the expression of the emitted FMCW signal and the Fraunhofer assumption. We then extract the required constraints and limits of this model, in order to design the small scale SAR system in practice. Finally, we empirically validate the model based on different measurements that we have deeply analysed. This master thesis offers a robust model and relevant associated experiments in order to provide a complete toolbox to perform SAR at small scale.