Abstract
Azimuth resolution of airborne stripmap synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is restricted by the azimuth antenna size. Conventionally, a higher azimuth resolution should be achieved by employing alternate modes that steer the beam in azimuth to enlarge the synthetic antenna aperture. However, if a data set of a certain region, consisting of multiple tracks of airborne stripmap SAR data, is available, the azimuth resolution of specific small region of interest (ROI) can be conveniently improved by a novel azimuth super-resolution method as introduced by this paper. The proposed azimuth super-resolution method synthesize the azimuth bandwidth of the data selected from multiple discontinuous tracks and contributes to a magnifier-like function with which the ROI can be further zoomed in with a higher azimuth resolution than that of the original stripmap images. Detailed derivation of the azimuth super-resolution method, including the steps of two-dimensional dechirping, residual video phase (RVP) removal, data stitching and data correction, is provided. The restrictions of the proposed method are also discussed. Lastly, the presented approach is evaluated via both the single- and multi-target computer simulations.
Highlights
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a multi-platform multi-mode microwave imaging tool that equalizes its trajectory to a wide aperture antenna to generate high resolution images [1,2,3]
SAR can image a region of interest (ROI) with flexible tracks, little response time and low transmitting power and has been playing important roles in wide applications, e.g., disaster monitoring, moving target direction and navigation assistance [4,5,6,7,8,9]
It is often found that richer details of some areas within focused stripmap images, like vehicles or artificial architectures surrounded by forests, are needed with a higher azimuth resolution
Summary
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a multi-platform multi-mode microwave imaging tool that equalizes its trajectory to a wide aperture antenna to generate high resolution images [1,2,3]. If multiple tracks of the stripmap data have already been achieved for interferometric SAR (InSAR) applications, an innovative azimuth super-resolution method, as will be discussed in this paper, is able to improve the azimuth resolution of any given small ROI. The function of this azimuth super-resolution method is similar to the way a magnifier works: any small patch within the original stripmap SAR image can be further zoomed-in to achieve a higher azimuth resolution than that of the original stripmap mode. The proposed azimuth resolution method, improves the azimuth resolution by employing multiple tracks of data instead of updated hardware or platforms, and is more cost-effective.
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