Focusing of Bistatic SAR With Curved Trajectory Based on Extended Azimuth Nonlinear Chirp Scaling

Abstract

The focusing of bistatic synthetic aperture radar (BiSAR) data is more challenging than the traditional monostatic counterparts because of the strong range–azimuth coupling of echo signal, and the range cell migration (RCM) and Doppler frequency modulation (FM) rate, which are caused by complex geometric configuration. Although several monostatic algorithms have been modified to handle general bistatic cases, these algorithms are derived from the assumption that the flying platforms are moving along a linear trajectory with uniform velocity. In practical situation, the flight path of the spaceborne SAR platform inevitably deviates from the ideal trajectory in the long integration time. In this case, besides the influence of the inherent geometric configuration of BiSAR, the curved trajectory of the platforms also causes an additional range–azimuth coupling and the spatial variance of RCM and Doppler FM rate, which cannot be processed by the traditional algorithms. In this article, considering the curved orbit of the SAR platforms and the motion of ground targets caused by the Earth’s rotation, a high-order motion range model is proposed. Based on the range model, the spatial variance characteristic of the BiSAR with curved trajectory is analyzed. Then, an extended azimuth nonlinear chirp scaling (EANLCS) algorithm with an addition of highly varying residual Doppler centroid correction for BiSAR with curved trajectory is proposed. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the range model and the modified algorithm.