Advances in Spaceborne SAR—Technology and Applications (Second Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, several synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems have been proposed and developed. In addition to conventional high-performance spaceborne SAR systems, low-cost SAR systems, of small size and lightweight, mounted on aircrafts at low altitude, including UAVs and drones as well as small-to-medium satellites at high altitude, provide all-weather and high-resolution imaging capability. Those new small and low-cost SAR systems can dramatically reduce an observation period by deploying several sensors and consequently offer a new era of SAR applications. A high temporal resolution with a competitive performance encourages remote sensing community to develop many innovative applications for Earth monitoring and management as well as for surveillance.

This Special Issue focuses on current and upcoming developments in the international SAR constellation that promote synergies among the different SAR missions for interdisciplinary scientific and societal applications. Recent progress in new SAR technology and missions would bring perfect opportunities for introducing their potentials to the remote sensing community. With the ongoing progress of high-performance SAR in UAVs, aircrafts, and spaceborne missions, SAR constellation has become an effective tool for imaging and quantifying surface properties and dynamics. Along with SAR technological innovation, applications of SAR are rapidly diversified with increasing data availability and short temporal resolution, leading the development of a wide variety of new and novel application methods and products useful for the public interest, as well as scientific research. This Special Issue encourages submissions of studies about innovative SAR applications for land, ocean, and polar regions, as well as the synergistic use of multiple sensors at multiple scales. We invite all scientists, engineers, and government decision-makers devoted to various activities around SAR technology and applications. The following summary of topics provides the guidelines for paper submission, but all relevant topics and papers are welcome in this Special Issue.

• Current and upcoming SAR missions: introducing state of the art and performance of current and planned and being developed SAR systems and missions.
• Micro-SAR sensor and applications: concept and technology of micro-SAR antenna and systems mounted on UAV platforms, airplanes, and small satellites for cost-effective applications such as surveillance, monitoring natural and anthropogenic disasters, surface water management, etc.
• Multi-sensor and multi-scale data analysis and processing: data processing and application methods to fully exploit the enhanced capability of various current and upcoming SAR systems. Synergistic use of multiple sensors to enhance the spatial, temporal, and polarimetric scales.
• Methodological progress in SAR application methods: innovative methods and applications utilizing machine learning, SAR interferometry and polarimetry, quantified applications and physical model inversion, hybrid methods and data merging, etc.
• Applications of SAR to land, oceans, cryosphere, and other fields: qualitative and quantitative applications and results obtained by SAR and/or the synergetic use of optical and microwave remote sensing, which make a significant contribution to both scientific understanding, forecasting, and consequently to societal benefits in various respects.

Prof. Dr. Bingnan Wang
Prof. Dr. Yongsheng Zhou
Prof. Dr. Bing Han
Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Pieraccini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• new innovative SAR system
• missions and sensors
• micro-SAR sensor and applications
• data analysis and methods
• machine learning and/or new applications
• land applications
• ocean and cryosphere applications
• other applications