Featured image: Demonitor team (Mileva Samardžić-Petrović, Miloš Marjanović and Zoran Berisavljević are installing the Corner Reflector at the Devils Town site)
Another field visit to the Devils’ Town site took place from 24th to 25th of June 2025, with a primary task to establish a signal toward the Satellite Radar Missions, ESA Sentinel-1 in particular. The best way to ensure such a signal is by installing high scattering surfaces, and two custom-made metal antennas were used. They were designed specifically for this site in the form of reversed tetrahedral corners, fixed at optimal locations on the ground, and horizontally and vertically aligned to best face the satellite’s line of sight. Their further function is to permanently beacon that high scatter back to the satellite, thereby enabling continuous monitoring of displacements at fixed locations, which can be achieved by regularly stacking and analysing Sentinel-1 freely available radar images until the end of the project (and beyond).
The antennas were designed and manufactured in May by a local metal shop, “VD Machining” from Trstenik, under the watchful eyes of Mr. Dušan Vidaković and Dr. Predrag Sibinović. Our small crew of three, with additional help from the manufacturer’s team, was first coping with making a sizable base using a concrete mixture advised by our colleague Dr Aleksandar Radević from the Faculty of Civil Engineering (University of Belgrade). Both locations were previously scoped (Field Visit 2) as geometrically convenient and acceptable for the site aesthetic and natural integrity, as approved by the managing stakeholder representatives. The next day, after the concrete hardened, we positioned the antennas in the line-of-sight direction. It is anticipated that during the next satellite overpass, the radar image will capture strong scattering pixels from one of our corner reflectors.
Meanwhile, the PI Dr Miloš Marjanović had a quick meeting with the Park’s managing director, Mr. Miomir Milić, to update him on the ongoing activities and initial results, while also introducing the options of a UNESCO Geo Park framework. Both sides took their part in responsibilities to put further effort into the UNESCO context implementation.
Corner Reflector installed at the site for capturing the Radar signal from ESA Sentinel-1 satellites