A first view of the roof laboratory

31. January 2020 by Holger Nies | Comments Off on A first view of the roof laboratory

The administration of the University of Siegen has supported our team by giving us access to the roof of the ZESS building to carry out our experiments. The picture shows the state at the beginning of the project. Now we can start placing our antennas …

Passive Radar using Geosynchronous Satellites

28. November 2019 by Holger Nies | Comments Off on Passive Radar using Geosynchronous Satellites

In contrast to our high-end HITCHHIKER receiver system, we started investigating in a low cost and permanent available setup for the acquisition of radar signals. We are looking for a solution for continuous observation of small local areas which cannot be satisfied by the current satellite programs. Finally, we decided to use the signals transmitted by geosynchronous broadcasting satellites (e.g., SES-ASTRA and EUTELSAT HOT BIRD) as source for our passive receiver system. The receiver is based on a two channel Software Defined Radio (SDR) for tuning the desired signal to baseband and the sampling of the data by the analog-to-digital converter.

The main objective of the DFG funded project is the experimental verification of a parasitic multistatic radar concept using geostationary transmitters of opportunity. Further information about the project and system design you will find in the poster below.

 

22. November 2018
by Florian Behner
Comments Off on Bachelor-/Masterarbeit: Reglerentwurf und Firmwareentwicklung

Bachelor-/Masterarbeit: Reglerentwurf und Firmwareentwicklung

Zur Ausrichtung von Sensoren oder Antennen im Raum wurde ein Positionierungssystem mit zwei motorisierten Achsen entwickelt und aufgebaut. Das System enthält zusätzlich einen Inertialsensor um den Ausrichtungsvektor auch auf bewegten Plattformen beizubehalten. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit soll für den Steuerrechner dieses Systems die Firmware sowie der Regler entworfen und implementiert werden.
Das System besteht aus zwei orthogonalen Achsen, welche jeweils über ein Getriebe durch Schrittmotoren angetrieben werden. An jeder Achse befindet sich ein Absolutwinkelgeber. Das Steuersystem besteht aus zwei Atmel Mikrocontrollern – der Rechner zur Verarbeitung der Inertialsensordaten basiert auf dem ARM® Cortex® M0+, der Hauptrechner auf dem ARM® Cortex® M7. Die Kommunikation mit dem System erfolgt über einen CAN-Bus welcher von außen über Schleifringe erreichbar ist.
Die Aufgaben der Software sind die Erfassung und Speicherung der Sensordaten, die Regelung der Motoren sowie die Kommunikation mit dem externen Messystem über CAN-Bus.
Der Umfang der Arbeit wird dem angestrebten Studienabschluss entsprechend angepasst.

Ihre Aufgaben:

  • Entwurf und Implementierung der Firmware in C unter der Verwendung von FreeRTOS
  • Realisierung einer Softwarekomponente zur Steuerung des Systems in MATLAB
  • Vollständige Dokumentation der Arbeiten und der Software sowie Test des Systems

Anforderungen:

  • Studium der Elektrotechnik
  • Erfahrung in der Softwareentwicklung für eingebettete Systeme
  • Kenntnisse im Bereich der Regelungstechnik
  • Bereitschaft zum selbstständigen Arbeiten

weitere Informationen…

5. May 2014
by Florian Behner
Comments Off on HITCHHIKER unleashed

HITCHHIKER unleashed

We will provide the data acquired in the HITCHHIKER experiments to other research groups free of charge. At this time two datasets are available for download. We will provide preprocessed unfocused sensor data intended for bistatic SAR processing and focused single look complex datasets in bistatic radar coordinates and ground coordinates.
You can request the data here. All data will be provided as HDF5 file format.

3. December 2013
by Florian Behner
Comments Off on TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X Toolbox for MATLAB released

TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X Toolbox for MATLAB released

A first version of our Toolbox to read the datasets provided by the TanDEM-X mission of DLR is released as Open Source software under the GPL as TanDEMXforMATLAB on GitHub.

More Information on the TanDEM-X mission can be found at the DLR Homepage.

And some more technical related content regarding the interferometric mission at the TanDEM-X Science Service System and the monostatic SAR operation at the TerraSAR-X Science Service System.

First Light of the HITCHHIKER Transmitter System

19. April 2013 by Florian Behner | Comments Off on First Light of the HITCHHIKER Transmitter System

This video shows the result of an stationary Radar Experiment. The 500MHz Noise Radar Data was processed using a rudimentary ISAR processor utilizing OpenStreetMap Road Information. The Target is a 17m articulated truck. The left part shows the radar signals in range-doppler domain. On the right part we have the ground mapped ISAR video.

19. May 2012
by Simon Reuter
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EUSAR 2012: A noise based transmitter system for the HITCHHIKER project

Abstract:

The HITCHHIKER project was started in 2009 with the goal to develop a passive high resolution receiver system to perform a series of bistatic experiments using the German TerraSAR-X system as illuminator and demonstrating the feasibility of high resolution bistatic imaging with a stationary receiver.

This paper describes valuable extensions augmenting the system to a fully functional bistatic one pass interferometer to acquire high resolution DEMs on the one hand and further integrating a modular and flexible high bandwidth transmitter component with a thermal noise based signal source for waveform generation to upgrade the system to a fully operational active bi- or monostatic (standalone) SAR sensor.

A first experimental result with a noise based transmitter and the HITCHHIKER receiver and an outlook on upcoming experiments with this new system in 2012 completes the work.

[bibtex key=eusar2012reuter]

SAR Image of Dreis-Tiefenbach

14. May 2012
by Simon Reuter
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EUSAR 2012

The EUSAR, European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar, is the world’s leading international Conference dedicated to Synthetic Aperture Radar techniques, technology and applications.

Between the 23rd and 26th of April 2012 we attended the EUSAR 2012 in Nürnberg with an oral presentation entitled A noise based transmitter system for the HITCHHIKER project. This contribution describes the current status and results of the HITCHHIKER project and introduces the new transmitter system with a thermal noise based waveform.

Continue Reading →

10. May 2012
by Florian Behner
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Welcome!

We have recently started blogging on the HITCHHIKER bistatic radar experiment. In the future you will find news regarding the project here.
Information on the project itself can be found on the project page. The team is introduced on the team page.
If you have comments or questions, don’t hesitate to post.