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Topic · Aerospace Engineering

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques is a research topic within Aerospace Engineering. Science Explorer counts 20k research works in it since 1951. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry, including topics such as surface deformation monitoring, persistent scatterers, digital elevation models, land subsidence, polarimetric SAR, forest biomass estimation, urban development monitoring, and groundwater extraction.

  • SAR Interferometry
  • Surface Deformation Monitoring
  • Persistent Scatterers
  • Digital Elevation Models
  • InSAR Technique
  • Land Subsidence
  • Polarimetric SAR
  • Forest Biomass Estimation
  • Urban Development Monitoring
  • Groundwater Extraction
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
2.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+17%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
61% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques

Which countries lead Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.8k and 406 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.8k works
  2. 2 United States 406 works
  3. 3 India 312 works
  4. 4 Italy 285 works
  5. 5 Germany 187 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 137 works
  7. 7 France 134 works
  8. 8 Japan 130 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 112 works
  10. 10 South Korea 94 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 60.9%United States: 8.8%India: 6.8%Italy: 6.2%6 others listed: 17.3%61%largest
China2,797 · 60.9%United States406 · 8.8%India312 · 6.8%Italy285 · 6.2%6 others listed793 · 17.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques research, followed by National University of Defense Technology and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 284 works
  2. 2 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 118 works
  3. 3 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 108 works
  4. 4 Xidian UniversityChina 104 works
  5. 5 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 86 works
  6. 6 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 66 works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 60 works
  8. 8 Central South UniversityChina 59 works
  9. 9 Wuhan UniversityChina 55 works
  10. 10 Beihang UniversityChina 50 works

Who are the leading researchers in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques include Philippe Ciais, Kai You Wang and Alan Conrad Bovik.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Alan Conrad Bovik United States 150k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques?

The most cited paper in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques is "The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission" (T. G. Farr, P. A. Rosen, E.R. Caro et al., 2007), with 8,992 citations. Next come "Permanent scatterers in SAR interferometry" (5,555) and "A new algorithm for surface deformation monitoring based on small baseline differential SAR interferograms" (5,287).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission T. G. Farr, P. A. Rosen, E.R. Caro et al. · Reviews of Geophysics Open access 19 May 2007 8,992
2 Permanent scatterers in SAR interferometry A. Ferretti, C. Prati, F. Rocca · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 2001 5,555
3 A new algorithm for surface deformation monitoring based on small baseline differential SAR interferograms P. Berardino, G. Fornaro, Riccardo Lanari et al. · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing Nov 2002 5,287
4 The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission Dara Entekhabi et al. · Proceedings of the IEEE Open access May 2010 3,855
5 A tutorial on synthetic aperture radar Alberto Moreira, Pau Prats, Marwan Younis et al. · IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine Mar 2013 2,832
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques research done?

The largest centres of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Changsha (China) and Chengdu (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pasadena, Cologne and Naples.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 852 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 240 works
  3. 3 ChangshaChina 208 works
  4. 4 ChengduChina 174 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 157 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 150 works
  7. 7 NanjingChina 139 works
  8. 8 RomeItaly 79 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 71 works
  10. 10 CologneGermany 65 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PasadenaUS · 32.2 works13×
  2. CologneDE · 65.4 works11×
  3. NaplesIT · 56.0 works9.3×
  4. XuzhouCN · 46.2 works9.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques than the world average.

See Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques on the map

Where is the best place to study Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques?

Among universities, judged by research, Chang'an University, Chengdu University of Technology and China University of Geosciences score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 18.54%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chang'an UniversityChengdu University o…China University of …Xidian University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Chang'an UniversityChina 75.925.7%15.9×28 +68.2%
2Chengdu University of TechnologyChina 73.523.4%12.5×23 +73.0%
3China University of GeosciencesChina 72.622.4%15.2×33 +133.9%
4Xidian UniversityChina 67.216.5%29.9×104 -17.5%
5Central South UniversityChina 66.012.9%6.3×59 +66.1%
6National University of Defense TechnologyChina 64.313.9%32.0×118 +4.4%
7University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 63.510.9%20.1×108 +9.0%
8Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 62.323.9%5.5×20 +84.3%
9Kunming University of Science and TechnologyChina 61.323.6%5.2×14 +446.6%
10China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 60.312.2%12.1×45 +59.1%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques, country by country

Is Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 17% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques0.023% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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