7/15/2005 - Department of Energy awarded grant to ZAI

DEPARTMENT of Energy’s (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research Division awarded ZAI a grant for the fabrication of an airborne synthetic aperture radar system for the remote sensing of biomass and embedded carbon. The design modifies the existing BioSAR30TM receiver and transmitter and will design and fabricate a new wingtip-to-wingtip linear array antenna. This will reduce the size of the radar footprint on the ground and allow for improved accuracy. A previous DOE effort developed a plan for the prototype. Another ZAI radar system was used to simulate the new prototype on an airborne mission in February 2005 where 30 Weyerhaeuser pine plantation sites were surveyed in North Carolina. The successful mission demonstrated the feasibility of the improved and more accurate BioSAR3TM system. The new system will have immediate applicability to the timber industry, forest inventory and assessments, and the international carbon credit market.