MTRC compensation in high-resolution ISAR imaging via improved polar format algorithm

Abstract

Migration through resolution cells (MTRC) is generated in high-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. A MTRC compensation algorithm for high-resolution ISAR imaging based on improved polar format algorithm (PFA) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, in the situation that a rigid-body target stably flies, the initial value of the rotation angle and center of the target is obtained from the rotation of radar line of sight (RLOS) and high range resolution profile (HRRP). Then, the PFA is iteratively applied to the echo data to search the optimization solution based on minimum entropy criterion. The procedure starts with the estimated initial rotation angle and center, and terminated when the entropy of the compensated ISAR image is minimized. To reduce the computational load, the 2-D iterative search is divided into two 1-D search. One is carried along the rotation angle and the other one is carried along rotation center. Each of the 1-D searches is realized by using of the golden section search method. The accurate rotation angle and center can be obtained when the iterative search terminates. Finally, apply the PFA to compensate the MTRC by the use of the obtained optimized rotation angle and center. After MTRC compensation, the ISAR image can be best focused. Simulated and real data demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm.