Title: Advanced Antenna for Digital Beamforming SAR
Presenting Author: Rafael Rincon
Organization: NASA GSFC

Abstract:
We developed an L-band phased-array antenna for the second generation Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR) based on a novel approach that will enable meter-resolution and fully polarimetric measurements of important science parameters. The second generation Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR-2) employs a multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) SAR architecture with measuring capabilities beyond the current state-of-of-the-art in SAR technology for Earth Science applications. The new DBSAR measurements will provide an efficient way to detect and document the surface expression of thawing permafrost, helping to quantify the spatial extent of thawing and the accelerating rate of CO2 and CH4 gas fluxes to the atmosphere. In addition, the fully polarimetirc DBSAR measurements will penetrate vegetation structure providing unique information on vegetation volumes and densities that can be used to map forest cover, disturbance from deforestation and degradation, forest recovery, wetland inundation, and aboveground biomass.