Synthetic aperture radar method and synthetic aperture radar device

A synthetic aperture radar device for remote sensing of the surface of the Earth, comprising:

• an array of antenna elements configured to transmit radar pulses in a transmitting operation and to receive radar echoes of the radar pulses reflected on the surface of the Earth in a receiving operation, wherein the radar device is configured such that in an SAR normal operating mode for obtaining SAR images a plurality of radar echoes from different radar pulses are received simultaneously and are separated from one another by means of digital beamforming,
• wherein the synthetic aperture radar device is further configured to carry out a calibration mode in which,
• the transmission of the radar pulses in the transmitting operation is carried out with a predetermined pulse repetition rate so that only echo signals of a single radar echo are received by all antenna elements of the array at the same point in time in the receiving operation;
• in the receiving operation, the echo signals are recorded in a plurality of receiving channels, wherein a different antenna element is assigned to a respective receiving channel, and in the respective receiving channel the echo signals received by the assigned antenna element are digitized and directly stored independently of the other receiving channels, thereby obtaining digitized radar data for each receiving channel;
• and
• the digitized radar data of the respective receiving channels are further processed to determine a set of calibrated parameters of the radar device for an SAR operating mode for obtaining SAR images.