Bistatic Forward-Looking SAR MP-DPCA Method for Space–Time Extension Clutter Suppression

Abstract

Echoes of bistatic forward-looking synthetic aperture radar (BFSAR) disperse to multiple range cells and exist spatial frequency extension as well as Doppler spectrum extension (i.e., namely space–time extension). Furthermore, the characteristics of BFSAR clutter are strongly nonstationary and spatial variants. Because of the abovementioned issues, clutter and moving targets are fully overlapped in the initial 3-D space–time–range raw data domain, and the clutter cannot be suppressed effectively. To solve this problem, a BFSAR multipulse displaced phase center antenna (MP-DPCA) method is proposed in this article. First, keystone transform without Doppler ambiguity is applied to remove the coupling between the space–time and range domains. Hence, the overall complex 3-D processing in the space–time–range domain is reduced to independent 2-D processing in each space–time domain. Subsequently, a spatial-dechirp processing is applied in the space–time domain to eliminate the spatial frequency extension. Meanwhile, Doppler parameters of clutter point scatterers are equalized by nonlinear chirp scaling processing in the frequency and time domains. Accordingly, the Doppler spectrum extension of point scatterers can be eliminated by a uniform azimuth dechirp processing. After aforesaid three steps, the clutter and moving targets are separated in the space–time domain. Finally, based on the linear phase difference of clutter between the channels, a multipulse canceller can be designed to suppress the clutter. Compared with the existing space–time adaptive procession (STAP) and DPCA methods, this method not only overcomes the nonstationary problem in BFSAR but also conquers the strict application conditions of DPCA. Simulation results are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.