Localization of step changes in multitemporal SAR images

Deals with multitemporal sequences of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images with regions possibly affected by step reflectivity patterns of change. Specifically, it addresses the problems of detecting a temporal step pattern with small reflectivity change against a constant pattern and of estimating the transition instant for the step. The statistically optimized signal processing techniques proposed in this work are most appropriate for the new generation of SAR systems with high revisit time that are currently under development. We propose two different techniques, based on the maximum likelihood (ML) approach, that make different use of prior knowledge on the radar cross section (RCS) levels of the searched pattern. They process the whole sequence to achieve optimal discrimination capability between regions affected and not affected by a step change and optimal estimation accuracy for the step transition instant. The first technique (known step pattern (KSP)-detector) assumes complete knowledge of the RCS levels of the searched pattern of change, while the second one (USP-detector) is based on the assumption of totally unknown step pattern.     

Advances in non-linear apodization

Selected new methods and applications of non-linear apodization for irregularly-shaped and parse coherent apertures and arrays are presented. The benefits include unproved impulse response performance, i.e., reduced peak sidelobes and integrated sidelobe power, along with improved mainlobe resolution, compared to classic windowing techniques. Nonlinear apodization (NLA) techniques can also serve as powerful engines for effective superresolution and bandwidth extrapolation of coherent data for filling sparse apertures. The sparse aperture filling property of superresolution algorithms for radar data forms the basis for a new concept which is introduced here: synthetic multiple aperture radar technology (SMART). Increased swath and/or reduced antenna size are some of the benefits postulated for SMART applied to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. The benefits of these new methods and applications for nonlinear apodization are then demonstrated for two specific applications: 1) sidelobe control for Y-type synthetic aperture radiometers, such as the European Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) system (Kerr et al.) and JPL's proposed GeoSTAR (Lambrigsten) concept; and, 2) filling of sparse synthetic aperture radar data by exploiting the bandwidth extrapolation properties of nonlinear apodization based superresolution techniques. The methods that have been developed and demonstrated herein have potential application to a wide range of passive and active microwave remote sensing and radar systems.     

Nonlinear apodization for sidelobe control in SAR imagery

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery often requires sidelobe control, or apodization, via weighting of the frequency domain aperture. This is of particular importance when imaging scenes containing objects such as ships or buildings having very large radar cross sections. Sidelobe improvement using spectral weighting is invariably at the expense of mainlobe resolution presented here is a class of nonlinear operators which significantly reduce sidelobe levels without degrading mainlobe resolution implementation is via sequential nonlinear operations applied to complex-valued (undetected) SAR imagery. SAR imaging is used to motivate the concepts developed in this work. However, these nonlinear apodization techniques have potentially broad and far-ranging applications in antenna design, sonar, digital filtering etc., i.e., whenever data can be represented as the Fourier transform of a finite-aperture signal     

Calibration of complex polarimetric SAR imagery using backscattercorrelations

A technique for calibration of multipolarization synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imagery is described. If scatterer reciprocity and lack of correlation between co- and cross-polarized radar echoes (for azimuthally symmetric distributed targets) are assumed, the effects of signal leakage between the radar data channels can be removed without the use of known ground targets. If known targets are available, all data channels can be calibrated relative to one another and radiometrically as well. The method is verified with simulation and application to airborne SAR data     

VSAR: a high resolution radar system for ocean imaging

The velocity synthetic aperture radar (VSAR) is a conceptual synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-based sensor system for high resolution ocean imaging. The VSAR utilizes data collected by a multielement SAR system, to extract information not only about the radar reflectivity of the observed area, but also about the radial velocity of the scatterers in each pixel. This is accomplished by making use of the phase information contained in multiple SAR images, and not just the magnitude information as in conventional SAR. Using this velocity information, the VSAR attempts to compensate for the velocity distortion inherent in conventional SAR and to reconstruct the ocean reflectivity. We present the basic theory of the VSAR system and its performance. We also provide an analysis of the VSAR imaging mechanism for a statistical model of the radar returns, designed to capture the effects of speckle and of resolution degradation due to the decorrelation of the radar returns     

GRS 2002: German Radar Symposium in Bonn, Germany

The German Radar Symposium (GRS 2002), organized jointly by the German Institute of Navigation (DGON) and by the Information Technology Society (VDE-ITG), attracted wide interest in the international radar community. It was held from September 3-5, 2002, in Bonn, the former capital city of Germany. The GRS 2002 programme covered a large scale of important radar topics. All classical topics like air traffic control, CFAR, antenna technology, signal processing and simulation papers have been presented and new results were demonstrated. These topics were combined with new applications like meteorology, subsurface, and automotive to underline the increase of interest in radar technology. Phased array antennas are the key elements of high performance multi-function radar systems which are studied all over the world. SAR and ISAR are, nowadays, essential radar techniques for civil and military observation and monitoring.     

Effects of Reduced SAR Azimuth Processing

Several approaches are evaluated for reducing the large data handling and processing loads associated with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems. The effects of data abbreviation on SAR images were studied theoretically as well as experimentally with SEASAT-A data. Image degradation was measured in terms of azimuth resolution and signal-to-clutter ratio. It was found that the degradation of image quality to data rate reduction is graceful. With high time-bandwidth product signals, little or no azimuth resolution degradation was noticed with several data bandwidth reduction techniques that achieve data reduction factors of up to 8. The signal-to-clutter ratio was found to decrease slowly with increasing reduction in data rate.     

Emulating Dynamic Target in Compact Radar Ranges. Part I: Theory

Analytical expressions are developed that describe the artifacts encountered when translating, rotating, and vibrating point sources are imaged by compact radar ranges (CRRs) emulating airborne synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). The approach starts with coherent-aperture imaging basics and develops a general solution for imaging using the Born approximation. We show that moving-target artifacts on CRRs are similar to the artifacts encountered with SAR moving targets, suggesting that CRRs may be suitable for such emulations.     

一种用于条带模式SAR成像的自聚焦算法

 针对现有条带模式合成孔径雷达（SAR）成像的自聚焦算法中,相位的拼接会引起误差的严重积累,本文结合相位梯度自聚焦（PGA）算法和子孔径偏移（MD）算法,提出了一种新的用于条带模式SAR成像的自聚焦算法（PGA-MD）。该算法先利用PGA算法有效估计各子孔径相位误差函数,再利用相邻子图间方位向偏移量和线性相位之间的关系,通过MD算法精确估计相邻子图间方位向偏移量,然后计算线性相位差,并基于—阶导数实现子孔径相位误差函数拼接。理论分析以及实测数据处理结果对比均表明PGA-MD算法可以有效提高对条带SAR图像的自聚焦效果。     

Data fusion for ground moving target tracking

The aim of ground surveillance is the large scale, continuous and near real time determination of a dynamical ground picture. This task comprises detection and tracking of moving single targets and convoys, mobile weapon systems, and military equipment. The sensors of choice are airborne Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) radar and synthetic aperture radar (SAR). As ground target tracking often suffers from dense target situations, high clutter, and low visibility, the integration and fusion of external background information is essential for providing precise and continuous tracks. We present Multi Hypotheses techniques for tracking several targets in complex ground situations with clutter. Methods to incorporate topographic information, in particular digital road maps, are described and demonstrated.     

Parametric Methods for Strip-Map SAR Doppler Ambiguity Resolution

Physical modeling of the Doppler centroid (DC) can be used to predict synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Doppler ambiguity when antenna attitude is controlled or measured precisely enough. It is shown that the same model proves useful even in the cases of higher attitude uncertainty, if it is combined with suitable adaptive techniques. In this paper, Doppler ambiguity resolution is formulated as a hypothesis testing problem over a domain of integer values that are directly related to the attitude uncertainty. A test statistic is derived from the entire SAR scene using data adaptive processing. A broad class of such adaptive algorithms is analyzed in a unified way, starting from the range-azimuth coupling in the frequency domain and multilook techniques. The analysis includes two well-known and two new multilook methods for Doppler ambiguity resolution. A suitable test statistic is proposed for each of these methods and its dependency on the scene spatial correlation is discussed. Experimental results confirm the robustness of the combined scheme.     

Spectral Properties of Homogeneous and Nonhomogeneous Radar Images

On the basis of a two-dimensional, nonstationary white noisemodel for the complex radar backscatter, the spectral properties ofa one-look synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) system is derived. It isshown that the power spectrum of the complex SAR image is sceneindependent. It is also shown that the spectrum of the intensityimage is in general related to the radar scene spectrum by a linearintegral equation, a Fredholm's integral equation of the third kind.Under simplifying assumptions, a closed-form equation giving theradar scene spectrum as a function of the SAR image spectrum canbe derived.     

A technique for enhanced slant range resolution for SAR systems inknowledge-based environment

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an airborne (or spaceborne) radar mapping technique for generating high resolution maps of surface target areas including terrain. High resolution is achieved by coherently combining the returns from a number of radar transmissions. The resolution of the images is determined by the parameters of the emissions, with more data giving greater resolution. A requirement of the Microwave Radar Division's SAR radar is to provide classification of targets. This paper presents a technique for enhancing slant range resolution in SAR images by dithering the carrier centre frequency of the transmitted signal. The procedure controls the radar waveforms so they will optimally perform the classification function, rather than provide an image of best quality. It is shown that a Knowledge-Based engineering approach to determining the waveform of the radar gives considerably improved performance as a classifier of targets (of large radar cross-section), even though the corresponding image is degraded     

合成孔径雷达系统建模、仿真与信号处理初探

作为雷达技术发展历史中的里程碑,合成孔径雷达(SAR)通过使用空中合成天线阵列技术及先进的目标回波信号处理技术能够提供清晰的地球表面图像。由于它的这一突出特点,SAR已经成为许多飞行器的重要任务载荷并被广泛应用于军事及民用领域。从航空电子系统总体需求角度出发,为了深刻理解SAR系统的工作原理并得到更好的SAR图像产品,有必要对系统数学模型的建立、SAR回波信号的仿真以及信号处理算法进行深入的研究。本文试图从这三方面讨论SAR系统设计中的关键问题。     

Automatic target recognition using enhanced resolution SAR data

Using advanced technology, a new automatic target recognition (ATR) system has been developed that provides significantly improved target recognition performance compared with ATR systems that use conventional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image-processing techniques. This significant improvement in target recognition performance is achieved by using a new superresolution image-processing technique that enhances SAR image resolution (and image quality) prior to performing target recognition. A computationally efficient two-level implementation of a template-based classifier is used to perform target recognition. The improvement in target recognition performance achieved using superresolution image processing in this new ATR system is quantified     

弹载合成孔径雷达自适应重频分析与设计

弹载合成孔径雷达(Synthetic Aperture Radar,SAR)的目标距离、视线角由于高速逼近目标而快速变化,这导致传统的固定脉冲重复频率(Pulse Repetition Frequency,PRF)(简称重频)波形难以兼顾弹载SAR雷达在成像各方面的约束条件,故需要根据当前弹体运动和弹目关系变化情况实时计算重频。详细分析了影响重频选择的各项因素,包括避免距离模糊、方位模糊、高度杂波、发射遮挡影响及SAR成像分辨率、系统相参性要求等影响因素,并设计了自适应重频计算的工作流程。某SAR雷达系统实验表明,该设计能够在实际飞行弹道条件下根据实际弹目关系自适应调整脉冲重复频率,从而更好地实现SAR雷达系统的工作性能,有效解决了固定重频波形不能适应弹载SAR工作条件的难题。     

一种改进的FMCW SAR RD成像算法

FMCWSAR将调频连续波与合成孔径成像技术结合于一体,是一种新近被提出来的成像雷达体制,它以其体积小、重量轻、成本低、分辨率高等一系列优点,引起越来越多的关注。然而,在FMCWSAR系统中,雷达连续不断地发射信号,调制信号周期相对较长,停一走（STOP AND GO）近似不再成立,所以要用合适的算法来实现成像。针对FMCW SAR的特点,详细推导了停一走近似失效时FMCW SAR的信号模型及处理过程,提出了一种改进的RD算法。此方法是通过补偿连续运动引入的多普勒频移,消除连续运动的影响。     

机动目标的逆合成孔径雷达成像

 逆合成孔径雷达(ISAR)和合成孔径雷达 (SAR)都是利用目标 (场景)与雷达的相对运动,提高横向分辨率,实现对目标 (场景 )的成像。SAR的运动方是雷达平台,可控制作平稳飞行,且用仪器测校其偏离误差;ISAR的运动方通常是非合作目标,运动不受控制,且难以精确测量。当目标作机动飞行时,以目标作固定基准,雷达等效地在空间形成流形复杂的逆合成孔径 (阵列 ),对这种情况下成像的问题进行了系统的研究。     

On the resolvability of sinusoidal parameter estimates [andapplication to SAR target features]

The resolvability of 2-D (two-dimensional) sinusoidal parameter estimates is studied. These sinusoids describe the target features in SAR (synthetic aperture radar) applications. We analyze the resolvability by considering the frequency estimates of the sinusoids. Our results may be used by target classification algorithms to better classify radar targets in SAR applications     

Estimating the Doppler centroid of SAR data

After reviewing frequency-domain techniques for estimating the Doppler centroid of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data, the author describes a time-domain method and highlights its advantages. In particular, a nonlinear time-domain algorithm called the sign-Doppler estimator (SDE) is shown to have attractive properties. An evaluation based on an existing SEASAT processor is reported. The time-domain algorithms are shown to be extremely efficient with respect to requirements on calculations and memory, and hence they are well suited to real-time systems where the Doppler estimation is based on raw SAR data. For offline processors where the Doppler estimation is performed on processed data, which removes the problem of partial coverage of bright targets, the ΔE estimator and the CDE (correlation Doppler estimator) algorithm give similar performance. However, for nonhomogeneous scenes it is found that the nonlinear SDE algorithm, which estimates the Doppler-shift on the basis of data signs alone, gives superior performance