Abstract: In order to promote the wider use of ground-based synthetic aperture radar (GB-SAR) in the field of surface micro-deformation monitoring, this paper summarizes the main types of GB-SAR and introduces the working principles and important parameters of some representative systems. By taking the S-SAR (slope-synthetic aperture radar) ground-based radar independently developed by the China Academy of Safety and Production Science as an example, the key processing techniques utilized by the GB-SAR are introduced. Experiments verify the accuracy of GB-SAR. It also shows the application of GB-SAR in open pit mine slope monitoring, mine dumping site and landslide emergency rescue. Finally, the problems and suggestions of GB-SAR in monitoring are proposed.