German Firm on Cutting Edge of Radar Technologies
By Markus Rumbach

Aero-Sensing Radarsysteme GmbH is a private enterprise that was founded by scientists of the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) in early 1996. These scientists collectively offer the latest in international radar technology. In particular, their application of radar interferometry with highly automated processing of mission data, permits them to accurately determine height and generate three-dimensional images of the earth's land and water surfaces - independent of weather and light conditions. Since the development and construction of its first Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system, the company has grown steadily larger, now employing 27 people and running four different radar systems on its own airplane. The firm's primary thrust is to supply the world with essential base data information for the building and further development of infrastructures.
      By the end of the last century, our world was transformed into a society that demanded more information about our selves and our environment. In order to satisfy at least a portion of that demand, the founders of Aero-Sensing planned, developed, and ultimately constructed their first airborne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) system in 1996. This technology continues to provide the operator - whether Aero-Sensing or the customer himself - with several products derived from computer-aided processing of raw SAR and InSAR data. This is, in fact, an accurate representation of the earth's surface and various subsurface features.
     Aero-Sensing's scientific software and sensor platform can generate DEMs with a pixel spacing of up to 25cm x 25cm and height accuracy up to 5 cm.
      Aero-Sensing has built three additional SAR systems to meet users' ongoing demands. They can deploy their Gulfstream Aero Commander with different sensor configurations on board, including frequency, polarization, resolution, etc. Due to intense efforts in the research and development of new remote-sensing-application algorithms, many more products are now available, including:
• Fully geocoded SAR ortho-images
• Fully geocoded digital ground models
• Surface-height models and/or terrain models
• Fully geocoded three-dimensional representations of the sea surface
• Transformation of SAR products into thematic, topographic and other maps to a scale of up to 1:2000
• Three-dimensional ortho-images of the earth's surface or subsurface features to a depth of 20m, depending upon soil condition
• Measurements of the flow velocity and water-surface height of canals, rivers and the sea surface, up to an accuracy of 0.1m/s and 0.05m respectively
• Forest biomass and tree-height estimation for any desired map scale
• Change-detection maps for urban or rural purposes
• Volume calculations of trash dumps, landfills, coal heaps, and other such areas
• Correction or updating of incorrect or antiquated datasets derived from photogrammetric, space-borne, or other such sensors
• Real-time SAR image processing for disaster, pollution, or traffic monitoring
• Development and administration of geographic and cartographic information systems, both GIS and CIS.
      In addition to these value-added InSAR/SAR products, Aero-Sensing also offers its most advanced radar systems hardware technology - including both training and service - to any partner or customer who wants to use it on his own. Management's philosophy is simple. "Make our partners or customers as independent of us as they wish to be," is a concept that has been practiced on several of the company's domestic and international projects. To reach the goal of presenting request-oriented solutions to any worldwide partner or customer, the company custom-designs its radar sensors as required, and develops the necessary software as well.
      Because of this wide spectrum of services and applications, Aero-Sensing's client base includes such entities as federal governments, state authorities, environmental agencies, space and airborne industries, engineering enterprises, private planning offices, geographic/cartographic enterprises, research establishments, and universities. The company has monitored a sum total of nearly 330,000 square kilometers, with data sets acquired in Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Venezuela, and Brazil. The archiving, processing, geocoding and evaluating of SAR data was conducted mainly by each customer at his location, but in full cooperation with the scientific team at Aero-Sensing.
     One might think that data collection, processing and the interpretation of such high-quality data would be far too costly for practical use. On the contrary, one of the aims of Aero-Sensing's management is to provide a 3D mapping system that is less expensive than satellite-based SAR, photogrammetry, or laser mapping, yet would still preserve the reliability and quality of the product via a permanent quality-control system.
      As the demand for land/water surface information (e.g. land use, deforestation, height models, sea currents, etc.) increases worldwide, Aero-Sensing expects its technique to become the industry's standard in serving this purpose. As the capacity of computers and the understanding of small-scaled processes rise, high-resolution information will become one of the major demands of the future. These changing circumstances, on a global scale, will make the data gained with their radar systems a basic source of information. Aero-Sensing's management team has expressed its market expectations for the company's systems and products by saying, "Future life will be much easier with the information gathered by our radar systems."
      Continuous research and development of the systems, products, and algorithms is a basic requirement of the company. This requirement is fulfilled through various actions; for example, employing masters' and doctoral candidates, fostering cooperation with universities and international research establishments, and developing common research and development projects with the company's business partners.
      Among others, main research areas include:
• Microwave sensor techniques and configurations
• Differential interferometry
• Environmental monitoring
• Image classification and segmentation
• Disaster prevention
• Forest monitoring techniques
• Sea-surface movement
      Among the plans Aero-Sensing has for the near future are finishing their next-generation radar systems, building up a network for world airborne SAR surveying, and starting a commercial, space-borne SAR program.

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