Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)

• Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR for short), detects and measures displacement over time. The technology is based on the comparison of multiple radar (SAR) image pairs.
• The use of radar to detect the velocity of a moving object is commonly used in many well known applications:
  • by the military to detect the speed of an approaching aircraft.
  • in baseball to measure the speed of the pitcher’s fastball.
  • by law enforcement to determine whether your car is speeding.

Benefits of using InSAR:

• High Precision: ability to detect 1 – 2 mm of displacement per year;
• Large Area Coverage: images (areas of analysis) that are 1500+ km² each;
• Dense Data Coverage: typically generate tens of millions of data points per area of interest;
• Remote Sensing: no ground instruments or in-person inspections required;
• Full Site Monitoring: often detects displacement in areas of unknown risk;
• Measurement Frequency: updated displacement measurements after each satellite revisit (typically every 2 – 12 days).

Satellite Options:

¹Resolution depends on the beam mode chosen for the monitoring program and can range from 50cm to 20m.

²Footprint size depends on the beam mode chosen for the monitoring project and may differ from those listed.