Welcome Message from the general chairman 

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the EUSAR2012 conference in Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in southern Germany. This year´s EUSAR2012, the European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar, is the 9th conference in a two-year series since the beginning in 1996. Over the years, the EUSAR has been growing to a symposium with currently almost 500 participants and is recognized as the world's leading international conference dedicated to SAR techniques, technology, and applications.

Not only did the number of proposed EUSAR papers and posters increase in the years, but also the number of participating nations. We expect to welcome representatives from more than 30 nations to EUSAR2012. It is the open spirit of this conference that supports the worldwide discussion of experts on scientific, ecological, commercial, and security related topics. This is important, since the heart of our interest is in remote sensing with Radar which, in many cases, is of common interest around the globe.

Nürnberg is well known from the medieval ages as one of the most important German towns and the home of great artists, like the famous painter Albrecht Dürer.
You should not miss a walk through the heart of this charming town, where you can meet history at every corner.
However, Nürnberg is also a metropolis with high tech industry in the vicinity and a modern fair and conference centre with excellent public infrastructure, where this year's EUSAR is taking place.

I am looking forward to meeting you in Nürnberg during EUSAR2012.

Rudolf Zahn
EUSAR2012 General Chairman

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Message from the Program Chairman

On behalf of the program board I would like to welcome you to the 9th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar (EUSAR 2012) conference! The overwhelming response to our call-for-papers indicates the popularity of this conference and confirms that EUSAR has become the world-wide forum for all aspects of science and technology in the field of SAR related topics. The enthusiasm has certainly increased due to the successful launches of the latest SAR Missions and the excellent status of future programs.

For EUSAR 2012, we have received contributions from more than 30 countries all over the world. After the review process, nearly 200 papers were selected for oral presentation and 90 papers will be displayed for interactive poster presentations. Thanks to this response, all important fields of SAR techniques, technology and exploitation are covered by the contributions. To our pleasure several invited sessions has been organised and there will be for the second time two special sessions on “Comparison of SAR, SAS, Sonography”, which opens the mind of the researchers beyond one’s own field by looking into complementary fields.

Prior to the EUSAR conference there is a tutorial day with four parallel courses. The conference itself starts with the plenary session on Tuesday, where keynote speeches will be given by distinguished experts. Throughout the remaining three conference days four parallel oral sessions will be held in separate halls. We have arranged the parallel sessions in a manner that overlap of related research areas is kept to a minimum. As it is a traditional the first conference day will be closed by a piano recital and a reception in the “Bratwurst Röslein” (downtown of Nürnberg). Posters will be displayed throughout the three conference days. Special attention should be given to the interactive poster presentation on Wednesday evening.

A Best Paper Award, a Best Poster Award and three Student Best Paper Awards will be awarded at the closing session on the last day of the conference. Finally, I would like to invite you to join the technical tour to SIEMENS Healthcare Sector, Erlangen and Forchheim on Friday, which provides you with a close-up view of world-class research in the areas of image generation and processing in the health sector, for instance.

I would like to express my thanks to all authors for their outstanding contributions and in particular the members of the program board for their competent evaluation of the large number of submissions. Likewise I would also like to express my appreciation to the program and awards committee, as well as to the invited chairs for their careful preparation of the invited sessions.

I am looking forward to seeing you in Nürnberg.

Matthias Weiß
- Technical Chair & EUSAR-Executive -
Fraunhofer FHR, Germany