TRE was born from the SAR research group of the Department for Electronics and Information at the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI).

1985: The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) group at POLIMI (headed by Professors Fabio Rocca and Claudio Prati) begins enquiries into the availability of SAR data. Available data is limited to the American satellite SEASAT, which are being used to study the potential of SAR interferometry for the generation of Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and surface deformation maps.

1991: The European Space Agency (ESA) launches its first SAR sensor on board the first European Remote Sensing (ERS-1) satellite. Significant quantities of data are generated and used to verify so-far untested theories. Later in the year, the SAR group makes use of ERS-1 data, developing new interferometric methods which lead to a US-registered patent by ESA. At the same time, the ability of the system to measure ground movement to centimeter precision is being evaluated.

1995: ESA launches ERS-2 (overlapping with ERS-1). The SAR group requests that ESA links the two satellite missions to create the first ever 'tandem' mission. The acceptance of this proposal results in a nine month mission, during which the two satellites travel on the same orbital path (separated by 24 hours) providing a unique opportunity to observe ground movement over a short time interval. The resulting reduction in decorrelation intensifies the study of ground movement.

1996: Alessandro Ferretti joins the group and undertakes two multi-image research projects: the slow-moving Ancona landslide and the compacting of lava flows on the slopes of Mount Etna. The two projects reveal that it is possible to measure the displacement of radar benchmarks, also referred to as Permanent Scatterers (PS), to millimetre accuracy.

1999: POLIMI registers the PS Technique patent.

2000: TRE founded as a commercial entity.

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