The Institute has 4 departments working in well-established research programs, projects and external contracts. The Institute has about 145 employees, comprising scientists, engineers, technicians, support personnel, as well as internship, diploma and doctoral students, and guest scientists.
Three Institute’s departments are working on Earth observation and one on reconnaissance and security. The SAR Technology department is responsible for the development of the airborne SAR system F-SAR and contributes to the spaceborne SAR projects with airborne campaigns to simulate new data products, to validate and cross-calibrate the satellite data and to demonstrate new techniques.
The Satellite SAR Systems department and the Radar Concepts department are engaged in new spaceborne SAR missions, and are developing new sensor concepts and techniques for future radar systems. The Satellite SAR Systems department is responsible for operating the radar instruments on TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X and holds the position of the mission manager. The Radar Concepts department also contributes with the development of new sensor-related applications. For military spaceborne SAR activities, all major projects and activities are concentrated in the Reconnaissance and Security department. The Institute’s expertise in passive microwave systems is also in this department, as most of the passive microwave projects are presently related to security applications.