Mats I. Pettersson

Detection of Moving Targets by Focusing in UWB SAR—Theory and Experimental Results

Moving-target detection in ultrawideband (UWB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is associated with long integration time and must accommodate azimuth focusing for reliable detection. This paper presents the theory on detection of moving targets by focusing and experimental results on single-channel SAR data aimed at evaluating the detection performance. The results with respect to both simulated and real data show that the ability to detect moving targets increases significantly when applying the proposed detection technique. The improvement in signal-to-clutter noise ratio, which is a basic requisite for evaluating the performance, reaches approximately 20 dB, using only single-channel SAR data. This gain will be preserved for the case of multichannel SAR data. The reference system for this study is the airborne UWB low-frequency SAR Coherent All RAdio BAnd Sensing II.

Detection of moving targets in wideband SAR

A likelihood ratio is proposed for moving target detection in a wideband (WB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system. WB is defined here as any systems having a large fractional bandwidth, i.e., an ultra wide frequency band combined with a wide antenna beam. The developed method combines time-domain fast backprojection SAR processing methods with moving target detection using space-time processing. The proposed method reduces computational load when sets of relative speeds can be tested using the same clutter-suppressed subaperture beams. The proposed method is tested on narrowband radar data.

An Impulse Response Function for Evaluation of UWB SAR Imaging

Based on analysis of a point target imaged by different synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, the commonly used impulse response function in SAR Imaging (IRF-SAR)-a two-dimensional (2-D) sinc function-is shown to be inappropriate for ultrawideband-ultrawidebeam (UWB) SAR systems utilizing a large fractional signal bandwidth and a wide antenna beamwidth. As a consequence, the applications of the 2-D sinc function such as image quality measurements and spatial resolution estimations are limited to narrowband-narrowbeam (NB) SAR systems exploiting a small fractional signal bandwidth and a narrow antenna beamwidth. In this paper, a more general IRF-SAR, which aims at UWB SAR systems, is derived with an assumption of flat two-dimensional (2-D) Fourier transform (FT) of a SAR image and called IRF-USAR. However, the derived IRF-USAR is also valid for NB SAR systems.

RFI Suppression in Ultrawideband SAR Using an Adaptive Line Enhancer

In this letter, we propose an approach to suppress radio-frequency interference (RFI) in ultrawideband (UWB) low-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR). According to the proposal, RFI is suppressed by using an adaptive line enhancer controlled by the normalized least mean square algorithm. The approach is tested successfully on real UWB low-frequency SAR data. In order to keep the computational burden down, possible ways to integrate the RFI suppression approach into SAR imaging algorithms are also suggested.

On integrated radar and communication systems using Oppermann sequences

In this paper, we consider the design of integrated radar and communication systems that utilize weighted pulse trains with the elements of Oppermann sequences serving as complex-valued weights. An analytical expression of the ambiguity function for weighted pulse trains with Oppermann sequences is derived. Given a family of Oppermann sequences, it is shown that the related ambiguity function depends only on one sequence parameter. This property simplifies the design of the associated weighted pulse trains as it constrains the degrees of freedom. In contrast to the single polyphase pulse compression sequences that are typically deployed in radar applications, the families considered in this paper form sets of sequences. As such, they readily facilitate also multiple-access in communication systems. Numerical examples are provided that show the wide range of options offered by Oppermann sequences in the design of integrated radar and communication systems.

Suppression of Clutter in Multichannel SAR GMTI

In this paper, the results of moving-target detection in multichannel UHF-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are shown. The clutter suppression is done using finite-impulse response (FIR) filtering of multichannel SAR in combination with a two-stage fast-backprojection algorithm to focus the moving target using relative speed. The FIR filter coefficients are chosen with the use of space-time adaptive processing filtering. Two parameters are used for target focusing, target speed in range and in azimuth. When the target is focused, both speed parameters of the target are found. In the experimental results, two channels were used in order to suppress clutter. In the resulting SAR images, it is obvious that very strong scatterers and the forest areas have been suppressed in comparison to the moving target in the image scene. The gain obtained can be measured using signal-to-clutter-and-noise-ratio gain, which is about 19 dB. Another way to measure the signal processing gain is the ability to suppress the strongest reflecting object in the SAR scene. The gain of the target in relation to this object is 25 dB. This shows that using UHF-band SAR ground moving target indication (GMTI) for suppressing forest and increasing the target signal can work.

Moving Target Relative Speed Estimation and Refocusing in Synthetic Aperture Radar Images

In this paper, a method for moving target relative speed estimation and refocusing based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is derived and tested in simulation and on real data with good results. Furthermore, an approach on how to combine the estimation method with the refocusing method is introduced. The estimation is based on a chirp estimator that operates in the SAR image and the refocusing of the moving target is performed locally using subimages. Focusing of the moving target is achieved in the frequency domain by phase compensation, and therefore makes it even possible to handle large range cell migration in the SAR subimages. The proposed approach is tested in a simulation and also on real ultrawideband (UWB) SAR data with very good results. The estimation method works especially well in connection with low frequency (LF) UWB SAR, where the clutter is well focused and the phase of the smeared moving target signal becomes less distorted. The main limitation of the approach is target accelerations where the distortion increases with the integration time.

Fast Time-Domain Algorithms for UWB Bistatic SAR Processing

Two fast time-domain algorithms are introduced for ultrawideband-ultrawidebeam (UWB) bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing; they are bistatic fast backprojection (BiFBP) and bistatic fast factorized backprojection (BiFFBP). Both algorithms process radar echoes on a subaperture and subimage basis in order to minimize processing time. They are shown to work with any configuration of bistatic SAR. They also own time-domain characteristics, which are essential for UWB radar signal processing. BiFBP and BiFFBP are experimented successfully on the CARABAS-II simulated data.

A Comparison between Fast Factorized Backprojection and Frequency-Domain Algorithms in UWB Lowfrequency SAR

Two frequency-domain algorithms chirp scaling (CS) with the advantage of simplification and range migration (RM) with the advantage of accuracy are candidates for a comparative study to the time-domain algorithm Fast factorized backprojection (FFBP) with reference to a UWB system are presented in this paper. The comparison is based on UWB SAR image quality measurements such as spatial resolution, Integrated Sidelobe Ratio (ISLR), peak sidelobe ratio (PSLR) and processing time connected to computational cost. The simulated SAR data, which is used in this study, is based on the parameters of the airborne UWB low frequency CARABAS-II system.

Definition on SAR image quality measurements for UWB SAR

Analyses in this study show that measurements under currently used definitions on SAR image quality measurement may be unsuitable for UWB SAR. The main objective of this paper is therefore to propose a definition based on the shape of a single point target in a SAR image which is more suitable for UWB SAR. We use both real and simulated data based on the airborne UWB low frequency SAR CARABAS-II in experiments. The time-domain algorithm Global Backprojection (GBP) is selected for the image formation in this study.