Formation of high resolution images via Synthetic Aperture Radar embedded on satellite

Today, Earth observation systems have become the main source of information in the fight against global warming. Previously reserved for governmental agencies (due to the colossal amounts of money required), the development of these systems is starting to become accessible to private companies. Indeed, the emergence of small satellites such as CubeSats has greatly reduced the cost of development of such systems. In recent years it has therefore been possible to observe the emergence of new companies dedicated to the trade of Earth observation information. One of the indispensable tools for Earth observation is the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). This is an imaging radar that allows high-resolution images to be acquired through specific processing of the data received by the radar. This tool has many advantages, such as being able to carry out day and night observations or being independent of weather conditions (which is not the case with optical systems). This master thesis describes the global functioning of SAR, but also studies, develops and comments different algorithms allowing the acquisition of high-resolution images (the model developed here allows to reach a resolution of 1m x 1m). In order to improve the comprehension of the system but also to validate certain hypotheses, a simulator of SAR data and the processing of these data have been implemented in Python. Finally, the physical characteristics required for the realisation of the studied system are also discussed. The aim of this work is therefore to help new companies such as Aerospacelab to acquire a good understanding of the functioning of SAR, to be aware of the physical specifications required to build such a tool and show the benefits of it. The idea is to encourage them to carry out further research on the topic and to develop such systems themselves in the future. Indeed, the deployment of SAR systems on small satellites is opening up new applications that are very useful in the fight against global warming.