AN/ZPQ-1 (TESAR)

The AN/ZPQ-1 Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR) is a compact, lightweight, and cost-effective Ku-band airborne radar manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the United States. Designed for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) like the U.S. Air Force’s RQ-1 Predator, it functions as a ground-sweeping sensor capable of detecting objects as small as 0.3 meters and distinguishing moving targets from stationary ones. The radar offers two Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) stripmap modes and a spotlight mode, providing resolution ranges between 0.6 m and 1 m, strip map swath widths from 800 m to 2.6 km, and spot mode imaging areas from 800 × 800 m to 2.6 × 2.6 km with resolutions of 0.3 to 3 m. It features a Moving Target Indication (MTI) minimum detection velocity between 1.5 m/s and 3.5 m/s and has a Mean Time Between Critical Failures (MTBCF) exceeding 700 hours. Focused SAR imagery is processed and compressed onboard the Predator UAV before being transmitted to the ground control station via a Ku-band data link. The AN/ZPQ-1 is being superseded on newer UAV platforms by more modern radars such as the AN/APY-8 Lynx SAR and STARLite.

radartutorial.eu: https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/08.airborne/karte049.en.html