The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) for the Mars 2001 Odyssey Mission

The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on 2001 Mars Odyssey will investigate the surface mineralogy and physical properties of Mars using multi-spectral thermal-infrared images in nine wavelengths centered from 6.8 to 14.9 μm, and visible/near-infrared images in five bands centered from 0.42 to 0.86 μm. THEMIS will map the entire planet in both day and night multi-spectral infrared images at 100-m per pixel resolution, 60% of the planet in one-band visible images at 18-m per pixel, and several percent of the planet in 5-band visible color. Most geologic materials, including carbonates, silicates, sulfates, phosphates, and hydroxides have strong fundamental vibrational absorption bands in the thermal-infrared spectral region that provide diagnostic information on mineral composition. The ability to identify a wide range of minerals allows key aqueous minerals, such as carbonates and hydrothermal silica, to be placed into their proper geologic context. The specific objectives of this investigation are to: (1) determine the mineralogy and petrology of localized deposits associated with hydrothermal or sub-aqueous environments, and to identify future landing sites likely to represent these environments; (2) search for thermal anomalies associated with active sub-surface hydrothermal systems; (3) study small-scale geologic processes and landing site characteristics using morphologic and thermophysical properties; and (4) investigate polar cap processes at all seasons. THEMIS follows the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) experiments, providing substantially higher spatial resolution IR multi-spectral images to complement TES hyperspectral (143-band) global mapping, and regional visible imaging at scales intermediate between the Viking and MOC cameras. The THEMIS uses an uncooled microbolometer detector array for the IR focal plane. The optics consists of all-reflective, three-mirror anastigmat telescope with a 12-cm effective aperture and a speed of f/1.6. The IR and visible cameras share the optics and housing, but have independent power and data interfaces to the spacecraft. The IR focal plane has 320 cross-track pixels and 240 down-track pixels covered by 10 ～1-μm-bandwidth strip filters in nine different wavelengths. The visible camera has a 1024×1024 pixel array with 5 filters. The instrument weighs 11.2 kg, is 29 cm by 37 cm by 55 cm in size, and consumes an orbital average power of 14 W.     

Cloud profiling radar for the CloudSat mission

The Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) for the upcoming CloudSat Mission is a spaceborne 94-GHz nadir-looking radar that measures the power backscattered by clouds as a function of distance from the radar. This sensor is expected to provide cloud measurements at a 500-m vertical resolution and a 1.5 km horizontal resolution. CPR will operate in a short-pulse mode and will yield measurements at a minimum detectable sensitivity of -28 dBZ.     

高信噪比、高分辨宽测绘带成像

针对传统高分辨和宽测绘带以及高信噪比和宽测绘带之间的矛盾,提出一种基于脉内扫描面阵合成孔径雷达(SAR)系统的二维空域联合处理算法实现高信噪比、高分辨宽测绘带成像。文中首先建立脉内扫描面阵SAR系统模型,该系统采用低脉冲重复频率(PRF)获得宽测绘带信息,同时利用脉内扫描方式获得高信噪比的回波信号。对于低PRF采样宽多普勒谱(对应方位高分辨)引起的多普勒模糊以及脉内扫描引起的距离模糊,提出一种二维空域联合处理算法解距离和多普勒模糊,并且详细地分析了地形高度变化对解模糊算法的影响。最后,通过仿真实验验证了本文算法的有效性。     

Synthetic Aperture Radar

The general theory of side-looking synthetic aperture radar systems is developed. A simple circuit-theory model is developed; the geometry of the system determines the nature of the prefilter and the receiver (or processor) is the postfilter. The complex distributed reflectivity density appears as the input, and receiver noise is first considered as the interference which limits performance. Analysis and optimization are carried out for three performance criteria (resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and least squares estimation of the target field). The optimum synthetic aperture length is derived in terms of the noise level and average transmitted power. Range-Doppler ambiguity limitations and optical processing are discussed briefly. The synthetic aperture concept for rotating target fields is described. It is observed that, for a physical aperture, a side-looking radar, and a rotating target field, the azimuth resolution is ?/? where ? is the change in aspect angle over which the target field is viewed, The effects of phase errors on azimuth resolution are derived in terms of the power density spectrum of the derivative of the phase errors and the performance in the absence of phase errors.     

Synthetic Aperture Processing with Limited Storage and Presumming

The number of transmitted pulses associated with the Doppler histories of a side-looking radar may greatly exceed the desired azimuth compression ratio of the system. This discrepancy is taxing if the storage required for the azimuth processing is provided by cores, magnetic drums, and the like. Thus, as a practical matter, one considers presumming of the data prior to correlation in an attempt to achieve the desired performance with a minimum amount of digital storage. In this paper, the optimum (in terms of resolution) presummer is derived, along with the optimum apportionment of the available storage capacity between the presumming and correlation operations. Under the condition (or generally pessimistic approximation) that the illumination pattern of the antenna uniformly illuminates a Doppler bandwidth equal to the PRF of the radar, the optimum presumming coefficients are the first Np Fourier coefficients of a function which is one of the Doppler bandwidth to be correlated and zero on the remainder of the PRF bandwidth, where Np is the number of transmitted radar pulses over which presumming is provided. Increasing Np reduces the degradation due to presumming, but may leave inadequate storage for correlation. Hence, we optimize the apportionment between the two operations and present the obtainable resolution as a function of total storage and the number of transmitted pulses in the received Doppler history.     

机载单通道雷达实波束扫描的前视探测

针对机载单通道雷达采用合成孔径雷达(SAR)技术、多普勒波束锐化(DBS)技术等途径难以实现载机飞行路线正前方高分辨率成像问题,研究了一种利用方位实波束重叠扫描的新型机载单通道雷达前视探测方法,讨论了提高方位分辨率的可行性和适用条件。该方法根据目标回波强度受到波束扫描增益调制的特点,通过计算修正的Capon空间谱来实现方位超分辨。模拟实验表明,所提方法能够实现机载单通道雷达的前视成像,可以显著提高波束主瓣区域内强弱临近目标的分辨能力。     

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     

Limitations on SAR Image Area Due to Motion through Resolution Cells

Range-Doppler imaging systems are degraded by the motion of an object through its resolution cells during image formation. Given the range resolution dR, the cross-range (azimuth) resolution dA, and the wavelength ?, the image's range extent DR and cross-range extent DA must be constrained by ?DR ? 4d2A; ?DA ? 4dAdR to avoid significant image degradation. By implication, we can image a rectangular area A ? DADR. We show that, in general, the acceptable image area is a parallelogram which becomes a rectangle only in the special case of unsquinted, broadside operation. Furthermore, the actual useful image area within a rectangular map of range extent DR and crossrange extent DA decreases as the squint angle measured from broadside increases.     

Statistics of Focused and Defocused Radar Maps

Coherent high-resolution synthetic-aperture radar systems achieve their range resolution by pulse compression and azimuth resolution by compression of naturally generated FM coding due to Doppler shifts as the aircraft flies by the target. If the data is left unprocessed, it is, in effect, a defocused map of the terrain. As such, it should exhibit less dynamic range than if the data is compressed. This paper describes an experimental study to verify the above conjecture. The results of this study indicate that if dynamic range of the data link is a problem, the radar data should be transmitted in its unprocessed form. This might very well be the case for planetary mapping by means of satellites.     

结合视线方向运动补偿的滑动聚束SAR子孔径成像算法

滑动聚束合成孔径雷达(SAR)是一种新兴的成像模式,既可以提高方位向分辨率又能够扩展成像范围。其数据处理时需要考虑两个关键问题:一是系统脉冲重复频率(PRF)不足,方位向信号发生混叠;二是合成孔径长度的增加使运动误差的影响更为突出,运动补偿(MOCO)精度要求提高。基于子孔径技术,提出了一种改进的高分辨率成像算法。划分子孔径克服了PRF不足的问题;子孔径数据处理采用结合视线(LOS)方向运动补偿的Omega-K算法,实现更高精度的运动补偿,提高了聚焦质量。最终的方位向分辨率达到0.1 m,具有实际工程应用价值。点目标仿真和实测数据处理验证了算法的有效性。     

基于IMU的机载TOPSAR目标定位方法

Burst工作模式和方位波束的主动扫描使得TOPSAR工作模式能够有效削弱ScanSAR模式的扇贝效应,同时也导致图像方位向像素位置与回波脉冲的关系变得复杂,给目标定位带来了很多问题。惯性测量单元(IMU)数据记录延时也会导致方位向定位误差存在,精确估计这个误差能够大大提高目标的方位向定位精度。从TOPSAR数据采集的几何关系和成像过程出发,结合机载IMU数据,提出了一种新的机载TOPSAR目标定位方法。该方法能够直接从TOPSAR斜距图像中获取目标的经纬度信息。通过实际飞行试验获取的机载TOPSAR数据验证了该方法的有效性,能够获取25 m的平均定位精度。     

Expressions in Closed Form for the Angular Accuracy of a Scanning Radar

Closed-form expressions are given for the standard deviation of the error in estimating angle (usually azimuth) in a scanning radar. The formulas apply to Swerling's lower bound and to the error using a pulse-to-pulse two-pole filter. They apply to non-fluctuating and Swerling II targets and hold for all signal-to-noise ratios. Comparison with graphical results in the literature shows that the average deviation obtained using the formulas is less than 4 percent.     

Precision tracking algorithms for ISAR imaging

The simultaneous imaging and tracking of a moving target is one of the most difficult problems in inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) signal processing. The problem is addressed here using a two-antenna imaging radar. The target range shift is sensed with an exponentially averaged envelope correlation algorithm while the angle change is measured with a differential phase shift algorithm. The three state Kalman filters are used in range and azimuth dimensions to provide both a filtered estimate and a one-sample-ahead prediction for the purpose of target tracking. The filtered range shift provides an accurate information for range bin alignment, and the target angle change provides the angular positions of the synthetic array elements. Therefore, the ISAR imaging simply becomes processing of a circular-arc aperture. The algorithms are verified both by computer simulations and also with experimental data processing     

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.     

一种超高分辨率机载聚束SAR两维自聚焦算法

受运动参数测量误差和大气扰动等因素影响,合成孔径雷达(SAR)图像通常会发生散焦,利用自聚焦对散焦的SAR图像进行后处理是一种有效的重聚焦手段。传统的自聚焦算法都只是针对方位一维相位误差的估计和补偿。随着成像分辨率的提高,自聚焦时残留距离徙动的校正成为SAR成像面临的一个新挑战。本文推导得到了极坐标格式算法处理后残留距离徙动和方位相位误差的解析表达式,分析了两者之间的内在关系,并利用该关系,提出了一种能够同时进行残留距离徙动和方位相位误差补偿的两维自聚焦算法。实测数据处理结果表明,在残留距离徙动效应不可忽略的条件下,该方法能够极大地改善原有自聚焦算法的聚焦性能。     

Scanning Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar with Integrated Radiometer

Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar systems are severely constrained to a narrow swath by ambiguity limitations. Here a vertically scanned-beam synthetic aperture system (SCANSAR) is proposed as a solution to this problem. The potential length of synthetic aperture must be shared between beam positions, so the along-track resolution is poorer; a direct tradeoff exists between resolution and swath width. The length of the real aperture is independently traded against the number of scanning positions. Design curves and equations are presented for spaceborne SCANSARs for altitudes between 400 and 1400 km and inner angles of incidence between 20° and 40°. When the real antenna is approximately square, it may also be used for a microwave radiometer. The combined radiometer and synthetic-aperture (RADISAR) should be useful for those applications where the poorer resolution of the radiometer is useful for some purposes, but the finer resolution of the radar is needed for others.     

Angular Accuracy of a Scanning Radar Employing a Two-Pole Filter

A two-pole filter is proposed as a detector for a scanning radar. The optimum values of the filter coefficients are found and are approximated by a simple expression. The optimum two-pole filter requires a 0.15-dB increase in signal-to-noise ratio in order to provide the same detection capability as the optimum detector, and yields azimuth estimates whose standard deviation are within 15 percent of the Cramér-Rao lower bound. The estimator is simple to implement, avoiding the storage requirements of the moving window detector and the bias complications of the feedback integrator.     

A Model for Generating Synthetic VHF SAR Forest Clutter Images

We propose a model for generating low-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) clutter that relates model parameters to physical characteristics of the scene. The model includes both distributed scattering and large-amplitude discrete clutter responses. The model also incorporates the SAR imaging process, which introduces correlation among image pixels. The model may be used to generate synthetic clutter for a range of environmental operating conditions for use in target detection performance evaluation of the radar and automatic target detection/recognition algorithms. We derive a statistical representation of the proposed clutter model's pixel amplitudes and compare with measured data from the CARABAS-II SAR. Simulated clutter images capture the structure and amplitude responses seen in the measured data. A statistical analysis shows an order of magnitude improvement in model fit error compared with standard maximum-likelihood (ML) density fitting methods.     

一种稳健的利用分布式小卫星获取宽域、高分辨SAR图像的方法

 传统星载合成孔径雷达(SAR)受最小天线面积条件的限制，其横向分辨率与测绘带宽度相矛盾，采用编队飞行的分布式小卫星SAR体制，可解决这一矛盾，即能够同时获得大测绘带、高分辨率的地面场景的SAR图像。主要研究如何在误差环境下抑制由小天线引入的多普勒模糊的信号处理方法。该方法利用子空间投影技术对导向矢量进行精确估计，在小卫星存在基线及其他误差时仍然能够稳健地恢复高分辨的二维SAR图像。     

High Range-Resolution Monopulse Tracking Radar

High range-resolution monopulse (HRRM) tracking radar which maintains wide instantaneous bandwidth through both range and angle error sensing channels provides range, azimuth, elevation, and amplitude for each resolved part of the target. The three-dimensional target detail can be used to improve and extend radar performance in several ways: for improved precision of target location, for target classification and recognition, to counter repeater-type ECM, to improve low-angle multipath tracking, to resolve multiple targets, as a miss-distance measurement capability, and for improved tracking in chaff and clutter. These have been demonstrated qualitatively except for the ECCM to repeater ECM and low-altitude tracking improvement. Initial results from an experimental HRRM radar with 3-ns pulse length show resolution of aircraft into its major parts and precise location of each resolved part accurately in range and angle. Realtime closed-loop tracking is performed on aircraft in flight using high-speed sampled, digitized, and processed HRRM range and angle video data. Clutter rejection capability is also demonstrated.