Synthetic imaging from coherent backscattering

Abstract

Abstractrcattered fields from radar targets can be processed to construct target images.An analytical simulation of coherent backscattering and synthetic imaging is reviewed. Conducting objects with an axial symmetry are used as examples to demonstrate the results of analytical backscattering and synthesis procedure. An interrogating radar waveform is simulated using the Hamming weighting function. The pulse repetition frequency is selected so as to avoid slant-range image ambiguity. Backscatterings from axially symmetric targets are formulated by using the diffraction coefficients in the plane containing symmetry axis. Target-backscattered pulses are coherently processed along the aspect angles of interrogation. Coherent data are then synthesized using the Woodward method to construct target images. Four examples of synthesized images demonstrate that adequate shape and size estimates can be made even with partial backscatterings. The totally analytical simulations on scattering and imaging constitute an economical tool to visualize scattering mechanisms of complex targets and to more effectively utilize synthetic-imaging capability.