Education

Ground-Based SAR for Deformation Monitoring: Data Analysis

• Dates: Monday 1st to Wednesday 3rd July 2013
  

  
  Venue and schedule: Institut de Geomàtica, Castelldefels (Barcelona)
  
  
  How to reach the Institute of Geomatics? Where are we?
  
  Course description:
  
  Ground-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (GBSAR) is a powerful terrestrial radar-based technique to measure and monitor surface deformation. The GBSAR has been used in the last years in a variety of application fields, for instance to monitor landslides, rock falls, subsidence phenomena, mining sites, etc. Thanks to the increasing diffusion of this technique, a wide range of technicians, young researchers, scientists and managers from different disciplines are faced to this new type of data. The course is addressed to all of them, covering all the relevant aspects of GBSAR data analysis to understand advantages and limitations of this new technique and correctly exploiting and interpreting its data. All main components of the whole GBSAR chain, including the design of the campaign, data acquisition, screening, processing, analysis, geocoding and visualization, will be discussed in the course. It will include a brief introduction to the fundamentals of terrestrial SAR and deformation measurement by SAR interferometry. This will be followed by an in depth discussion of different types of deformation monitoring approaches, emphasizing the practical aspects and analyzing different types of deformation phenomena and monitoring scenarios. Lectures will be complemented by participants’ personal work on practical exercises using real GBSAR data and the experimental in-house developed software of the Institute of Geomatics.
  
  Audience:
  
  Technicians, practitioners, young researchers and scientists interested in the GBSAR technique and, more in general, in terrestrial deformation monitoring. Given the versatility of the treated technique and the wide range of its potential applications, the course will be designed without requiring any specific knowledge of the participants. A previous experience with any GBSAR system or GBSAR data will surely be beneficial, even though it is not necessary to attend the course.
  
  Course deliverables:
  
  Copies of all overheads and other materials presented at the lessons.
  
  Content:
  
  

  • Ground-based SAR: the system, working principles and main applications.
  • SAR interferometry for deformation measurement and DEM generation: main principles, and technical issues, e.g. coherence, corner reflectors, phase unwrapping and aliasing, atmospheric component, etc. Practical exercises.
  • Deformation measurement by GBSAR: sensor geometry, selection of the point-of-view, line-of-sight measurement, reference point, etc.
  • Continuous GBSAR monitoring: basics, main advantages and limitations, discussion of the whole GBSAR data processing and analysis chain. Practical exercises.
  • Discontinuous GBSAR monitoring: principles, advantages and disadvantages, data analysis strategies. Practical exercises.
  • Data quality, measurement performances, error analysis and GBSAR validation.
  • Data analysis using not interferometric techniques: overview, processing strategies and discussion of examples. Practical exercises.

  Language of the course: English
  
  Lecturers:
  
  The lecturers come from the Active Remote Sensing Unit of the Institute of Geomatics (IG), which has 6 years of research experience with GB-SAR and more than a decade of activity in the satellite SAR Interferometry and Persistent Scatterers Interferometry techniques. The GBSAR activities started with the participation in the 6FWP Galahad project, "Advanced Remote Monitoring Techniques for Glaciers, Avalanches and Landslides Hazard Mitigation". Since then it has been working with C-, S- and Ku-band GBSAR data in a number of research projects. Since mid 2008 IG holds the GB-SAR system IBIS-L manufactured by IDS. The IG research activities in the field of GBSAR are focused on three main lines: (i) the development of new algorithms for data processing and analysis; (ii) validation activities and comparison and integration with other techniques, like satellite-based SAR or terrestrial laser scanner data; (iii) the development of new GB-SAR applications. More information on the above research activities can be found on the IG website, see www.ideg.es/page.php?id=584.
  
  Course fees: 480,00¤ (3-day course).
  
  Registration fees include lessons and practical exercises, course material and a social event.
  
  Registration procedure:
  
  The following four steps are needed to be registered:
   
  

  1. Fill in the form: Click here .
  2. You will receive an e-mail with your participation ID number and the payment instructions .
  3. Make the bank transfer (please, mention your ID number) .
  4. You will receive an e-mail with the official confirmation of your registration .

   
  This course is sponsored by:
  
  
  
  Contact person: Marta Agudo (marta.agudo@ideg.es)