Radar imaging
Radar imaging is the application of radar to create two-dimensional images of the different landscape done mostly from the satellites. Radar imaging technique has for a long time been the reserve of the industrialized nations. Developed countries have used radar imaging technology in ocean and ice monitoring, obtaining sea-ice information, earth classification, and ship routing. Most of the developed nations had enough resource to spare for these operations.
Advancement in image processing technology has significantly expanded uses of radar images. Developing countries can benefit from the radar imaging technology in many ways which include:
Land use: radar technology can be used in monitoring both crop development and forestry changes independent of the prevailing weather conditions.
Monitoring agricultural activity by the government in developing countries is critical for proper implementation of different policies such as set aside subsidies for farmer dealing with certain crops. The data obtained by the government is also important in determine the scale of crops so as to control the market prices to protect the farmers from poor pricing. Asian countries have used this technology in monitoring rice crops.
Forest monitoring: data obtained from radar images can be used to provide important details on forestry activities. The information provides help developing governments to come up with better ways of conserving forest resources.
Natural resources exploitation: the technology can be use to explore for new oil reservoirs in the remote location. The approach is much more cost effective as compared to the conventional methods. This technology can also be tapped to locate metal and hydrocarbon deposits in a more cost effective ways helping exploit natural resources in developing nations.
Map compiling and updating: radar impinging technology can be used to generate highly detailed maps in a more cost efficient manner. Developing countries require very detailed information that is digitized for proper land management, monitoring, and planning.
Lastly, the technology can be used to monitor natural disasters such as volcanoes, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and many others. Data provided can be used to avert the impact of the natural disaster.
Bibliography
M. Zink, C. Buck, J-L. Suchail, R. Torres. "The Radar Imaging Instrument and Its applications." esa, 2001: 46-58.
Wang, Yong, Mingsheng Liao, and Changcheng Wang. "Application and Analyses of Satellite-Borne L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Data in Coastal Environments". Geography Compass 3, no. 4 (2009): 1465-1482.
M.R inggs, R.T Lord "applications of satellite imaging Radar" department of Electrical engineering http://www.rrsg.uct.ac.za/applications/applications.html
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