A Novel Spaceborne Sliding Spotlight Range Sweep Synthetic Aperture Radar: System and Imaging

Abstract

Abstract:In this paper, a new Spaceborne Sliding Spotlight Range Sweep Synthetic Aperture Radar (SSS-RSSAR) is proposed to generate a high-resolution image of a Region of Interest (ROI) tilted with respect to the satellite track. Comparing to the traditional Spaceborne Sliding Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar (SSS-SAR), the SSS-RSSAR is superior in contributing to less data amount, lighter computational load and hence higher observation efficiency. Unlike the Spaceborne Stripmap Range Sweep Synthetic Aperture Radar (SS-RSSAR) proposed in a previous paper, the SSS-RSSAR not only continuously sweeps the beam in range for the ROI tracking, but also in azimuth to enlarge the synthetic aperture for an improved azimuth resolution. Two aspects of the SSS-RSSAR are focused: system and imaging. For the system part, a Continuous Varying Pulse Interval (CVPI) technique is proposed to avoid the transmission blockage problem by non-uniformly adjusting the pulse intervals based on the geometry. For the imaging part, a Modified Polar Format Algorithm (MPFA) is proposed to accommodate the original polar format algorithm to the echo received with the CVPI technique. Moreover, an integrate system parameter design flow for the SSS-RSSAR is also suggested. The presented approach is evaluated by exploiting the point target simulations.

A Novel SV-PRI Strategy and Signal Processing Approach for High-Squint Spotlight SAR

“…In recent years, scholars have adopted the variable PRI technique. They proposed numerous methodologies involving continuously varying PRI (CV-PRI) to tackle blind zones resulting from fixed PRI sequences, as detailed in references [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. However, due to the temporal design complexity, implementing CV-PRI sequences in engineering applications presents notable challenges.…”

Analysis of Hypersonic Platform-Borne SAR Imaging: A Physical Perspective

“…The hypersonic platform-borne SAR works at a typical altitude between 20 and 100 km with a speed over Mach 5 [6,7]. Due to its strong survival ability, fast response, and wide detection range characteristics, hypersonic platform-borne SAR imaging has its unique advantages over airborne [8][9][10] or spaceborne [11][12][13] SAR. One of most important applications is hypersonic platform-borne SAR imaging.…”