Time-Domain Notch Filtering Method for Pulse RFI Mitigation in Synthetic Aperture Radar

Abstract

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) often shares spectrum with other systems, such as radio, TV, cellular network, and so on, which are likely to produce radio frequency interference (RFI). Pulse RFI, which hinders SAR signal processing and image interpretation severely, is a common form of RFI and cannot be neglected. The simple and easy-to-implement frequency-domain notch filtering (FNF) method has been widely used to mitigate narrowband pulse RFIs. However, a well-known problem with abnormal sidelobe effect, which is caused by missing spectrum gaps due to the notch operation, is aroused when using FNF. In this letter, a novel time-domain notch filtering (TNF) is proposed. In the proposed method, pulse RFI occurrences are detected and notched by a simple log-ratio operator in a pulse by pulse manner. Then, missing-data iterative adaptive approach (MIAA) is performed to recover the notched signal to avoid ghosts. Experimental results via simulated and real L-band airborne SAR raw data validate the performance of the proposed method.