• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.337-355
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• 2021

This paper is made to suggest a future strategy for the Korean High Resolution Wide Swath Synthetic Aperture Radar (HRWS SAR) satellite development by surveying the current trends for the SAR satellite technologies. From the survey, the latest SAR technology trends are revealed of using Digital Beam-Forming (DBF), SCan-On-Receive (SCORE), Displaced Phase Center Antenna (DPCA), interferometry, and polarimetry for exploiting the SAR imagery. Based on the latest SAR technology trends and the foreign HRWS SAR development cases, the strategy for the future HRWS Korean SAR satellite development is suggested to develop the DPCA and SCORE technologies by using the KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite-6 (KOMPSAT-6) which is going to launch in a few years, and consequently to develop the HRWS SAR satellites which can monitor the whole Earth at weekly intervals.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.627-636
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• 2021

Although many studies on ship detection using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images are being conducted around the world, there are still very few employing SAR microsatellites, as most of the microsatellites are optical satellites. Recently, the ICEYE and Capella Space have embarked on the development of microsatellites with SAR sensor, and similar projects are being initiated globally in line with the flow of the new space era [e.g., for the ICEYE: 18 satellites (~2021); Capella Space: 36 satellites (~2023); and the Coast Guard SAR: 32 satellites in the early development stage]. In preparation for these new systems, it is important to review the SAR microsatellite system and the recent advances in this technology. Accordingly, in this paper, the current status and characteristics of optical and SAR microsatellite constellation operation are described, and studies using them are investigated. In addition, based on the status and characteristics of the representative SAR microsatellites, specifically the ICEYE and Capella systems, methods for using SAR microsatellite data for ship detection applications are described. Our results confirm that the SAR microsatellites operate as a constellation and have the advantages of short revisit cycles and quick provision of high-resolution images. With this technology, we expect SAR microsatellites to contribute greatly to the monitoring a wide-area target vessel, in which the spatiotemporal resolution of the imagery is especially important.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.409-409
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• 2023

하천 수위는 합리적인 수자원의 이용 및 관리를 위해 반드시 필요한 수문 자료이다. 우리나라에서는 수위 측정을 위해 유역 내에 관측소를 설치하여 장비 또는 인력을 통해 수위를 측정하고 있다. 하지만, 많은 관측소를 운영하고 관리하기에는 예산과 인력이 소모되는 한계가 있다. 위성 영상을 통한 시계열 분석은 전지구적 모니터링과 관측 분야에 중요한 역할을 수행할 것으로 기대되고 있으며, 특히 위성 영상자료를 활용한 수자원 분야 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 위성 영상을 활용하여 수면적을 감지하고 수위와 유량을 판별하는 많은 연구가 진행되었지만, 하천 하상의 경사와 단면 형태에 따라 수면적이 변하여 정량적인 수위 추정에는 한계가 존재한다. 본 연구에서는 Sentinel-1의 SAR 영상과 InSAR 기법을 통해 낙동강 유역의 홍수 전후의 하천 수위 변화를 분석하였다. Sentinel-1 IW 모드의 Single Look Complex(SLC) 영상 12장과 ESA 영상 처리 툴인 SNAP을 활용하여 VV(Vertical-Vertical) 데이터의 간섭을 통해 센티미터(cm) 단위지표 변화에 따른 수위 변위를 분석하였다. 위성 영상을 통해 추출한 수위 변위와 계측 수위 및 단면 자료의 정합성을 비교한 결과, 제방과 수체 경계면 식생과 하상 세굴로 인한 오차로 정량적이 수위의 정합성에는 한계가 존재하였지만, 수위의 정량적인 변동성을 확인할 수 있었으며, 수위 변화의 반응속도를 판별할 수 있었다.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2021

This paper proposes a wide-band dual-polarization stacked patch array antenna for satellite SAR system applications. The array antenna was designed for loss minimization and wide-band characteristics to enhance the performance of the SAR system and optimize it for active return loss in applications to active phased arrays. The fabricated array antenna showed a performance of 19.26%/19.79% fractional bandwidth within the -10 dB reference level of the active return loss and showed loss characteristics of 0.797 dB/0.799 dB averaged within the operational frequency for both H/V-polarization cases. The pattern performance was verified by comparing the measured patterns with the calculated patterns obtained by the array factor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 2020

Recently, there has been an increasing demand for SAR satellite as it can be operated regardless of the weather condition. In general, main reflector of the SAR is formed of multiple deployable panels to increase performance in the constrained payload envelope. By nature, deployable structure lacks structural stiffness and it is vulnerable to external disturbances and excitation. In particular, SAR satellites may have high levels of vibration occurring at the antenna reflecting surface due to higher angular rate requirements. During image capturing it is important to keep high surface accuracy of the reflector for the quality of images. In this research, a performance degradation of deployable SAR antenna due to structural deformation is analyzed. Panels for main reflectors are assumed to be flexible structures and multi-body simulation environment is established. Then, deflection of the panel is calculated while the satellite performs maneuvers. In addition, antenna gain and beam pointing error are analyzed to determine how these deflections affect antenna performance and mission.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.131-139
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• 2009

The existing vessel monitoring system using the ground surveillance radar has a difficulty in monitoring ships continuously due to the limited range of detecting ships. For resolving this problem, we carry out a research on ship detection which is to be the core technology of vessel monitoring system for ocean monitoring using SAR imagery. There are two different methods of detecting ships in SAR imagery: detection of the ship target itself and detection of the ship wake. In this paper, we mainly focus on algorithms which detect the ship itself, and also present the accuracy test after extracting positional and directional figures of the ships. After rectifying input SAR imagery using polynomial transformation, we use Wiener filter to remove speckle noises. A labeling technique and morphological filtering in conjunction with Otsu's method are used to automatically detect the ships based on the image processing domain. For ground truth data, information from a radar system is used, which allows assessing the accuracy of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method has the high potential in automatically detecting the ships and its positional/directional figures in a fast way.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.117-117
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• 2021

본 연구에서는 Sentinel-1A/B C-band SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar) 위성영상을 기반으로 인공신경망(Artificial Neural Network, ANN) 모형을 활용해 금강 유역 상류 40×50 km² 면적에 대한 토양수분을 산정하였다. 10 m 공간 해상도의 Sentinel-1A/B SAR 영상은 8일 간격으로 2015년부터 2019년까지 5년 동안 구축하였고, SNAP(SentiNel Application Platform)을 통해 기하 보정, 방사 보정 및 잡음(Noise) 보정을 수행하고 VV 및 VH 편파 후방산란계수로 변환하였다. ANN 모형 검증자료로 TDR(Time Domain Reflectometry)로 측정된 9개 지점의 실측 토양수분 자료를 구축하였으며, 수문학적 개념인 선행강우를 고려하기 위해 동지점에 대한 강수량 자료를 구축하였다. ANN은 각 지점에 해당하는 토양 속성별로 모델링하고, 전체 기간 및 계절별로 나누어 모의하였으며, 전체 자료의 60%와 40%를 각각 훈련 및 테스트 데이터로 사용하였다. 산정된 토양수분은 상관계수(Correlation Coefficient, R)와 평균제곱근오차(Root Mean Square Error, RMSE)를 활용하여 검증을 수행할 예정이다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.183-196
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• 1998

The Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR) image and the Digital Elevation Model(DEM) of an target area are put into use to generate three dimensional image map. An method of image map generation is explained. The orbit and attitude determination of satellite makes it possible to model signal acquisition configuration precisely, which is a key to mapping image coordinates to geographic coordinates of concerned area. An application is made to RADARSAT in the purpose of testing its validity. To determine the orbit, zero Doppler range is used. And to determine the attitude, Doppler centroid frequency, which is the frequency observed when target is put in the center of antenna's view, is used. Conventional geocoding has been performed on the basis of direct method(mapping image coordinates to geographic coordinates), but in this reserch the inverse method(mapping from geographic coordinates to image coordinates) is taken. This paper shows that precise signal acquisition modeling based on the orbit and attitude determination of satellite as a platform leads to a satellite-centered accurate geocoding process. It also shows how to model relative motion between space-borne radar and target. And the relative motion is described in ECIC(earth-centered-initial coordinates) using Doppler equation and signal acquisition geometry.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.31-36
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• 2022

In this paper, we present the design, manufacture and test results of Backend unit for SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar) that can be applied on a small satellite. The Backend unit for SAR was designed with a control/storage board, TRX(transmission and receiving) board and a power supply board as a single unit in consideration of the applying of a small satellite. The control/storage board uses RFSoC to generate wideband chirp signal, generate operating timings, and perform control and calculations for SAR operation. The TRX board is designed to convert the wideband chirp signal generated by the control/storage board to the operating frequency of X-band by up-converting the frequency. Since small size, light weight, and low cost are important consideration for small satellite, MIL/Industrial grade components were appropriately applied and the at the same time it was designed to ensure mission life through the radiation test, analysis and space environment tests.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.19-31
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• 2024

Ports are vital social infrastructures that significantly influence both people's lives and a country's economy. In South Korea, the aging of port infrastructure combined with the increased frequency of various natural disasters underscores the necessity of displacement monitoring for safety management of the port. In this study, the time-series displacements of Yeongilman Port and surrounding areas in Pohang, South Korea, were measured by applying Permanent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PSInSAR) to Sentinel-1 SAR images collected from the satellite's ascending (February 2017-July 2023) and descending (February 2017-December 2021) nodes, and the displacement associated with the 2017 Pohang earthquake in the port was analyzed. The southern (except the southernmost) and central parts of Yeongilman Port showed large displacements attributed to construction activities for about 10 months at the beginning of the observation period, and the coseismic displacement caused by the Pohang earthquake was up to 1.6 cm of the westward horizontal motion and 0.5 cm of subsidence. However, little coseismic displacement was observed in the southernmost part of the port, where reclamation was completed last, and in the northern part of the oldest port. This represents that the weaker the consolidation of the reclaimed soil in the port, the more vulnerable it is to earthquakes, and that if the soil is very weakly consolidated due to ongoing reclamation, it would not be significantly affected by earthquakes. Summer subsidence and winter uplift of about 1 cm have been repeatedly observed every year in the entire area of Yeongilman Port, which is attributed to volume changes in the reclaimed soil due to temperature changes. The ground of the 1st and 2nd General Industrial Complexes adjacent to Yeongilman Port subsided during the observation period, and the rate of subsidence was faster in the 1st Industrial Complex. The 1st Industrial Complex was observed to have a westward horizontal displacement of 3 mm and a subsidence of 6 mm as the coseismic displacement of the Pohang earthquake, while the 2nd Industrial Complex was analyzed to have been little affected by the earthquake. The results of this study allowed us to identify the time-series displacement characteristics of Yeongilman Port and understand the impact of earthquakes on the stability of a port built by coastal reclamation.