Franz J Meyer (UAF), E. Saiet, M. Hatfield (both Alaska Center for UAS Integration (ACUASI)), S. Arko, J. Nicoll (both Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF))

Geophysical Institute, UAF, Elvey Auditorium, Room 214.

A group of several scientists and departments at the GI is preparing a one-month airborne SAR campaign for this coming fall. From about mid-September to mid-October it is anticipated to fly a low-cost, high-resolution UAS-ready airborne L-band radar system (SlimSAR, http://artemisinc.net/) in Alaska. The system is suited to support a wide range of applications including the mapping of biomass, wild fires, sea ice, and oil spills. It will also enable DEM generation and the observation of surface motion (e.g. from volcanoes, landslides, permafrost glaciers, ocean and river currents).

Join them for this kick-off meeting and help them identify possible applications for this flight campaign. Come prepared and let them know how they can support your research with data acquisitions this fall.

A few words about the SlimSAR radar to help you prepare:

The SAR system used in this experiment is an L-band version of the SlimSAR system, produced and marketed by the company ARTEMIS (http://artemisinc.net/). The SlimSAR is a small-scale and lightweight SAR system that can be implemented both on manned and unmanned platforms. Hence, it is a good fit with the diverse platform culture that is available at the Geophysical Institute of UAF, housing both manned aircraft as well as the unmanned aerial vehicle facility ACUASI. The SAR system capabilities include (1) high-resolution imaging (supporting mapping and change detection), (2) along-track (supporting moving target detection, current measurements and river flow analysis), across-track (DEM generation, tree height estimation, biomass estimation), and repeat-pass InSAR (geodynamics, subsidence, volcanoes, ice flows, tectonics), (3) coherent and incoherent change detection (flooding, forest fires, ...), and (4) multi-frequency operation. Therefore, the system provides a wide range of flexibility to address the diverse observational needs of UAF. Data processing system will be delivered with the flight unit and will be available to UAF as long as needed to process all the data collected.