Robust Clutter Suppression and Ground Moving Target Imaging Method for a Multichannel SAR with High-Squint Angle Mounted on Hypersonic Vehicle

Jiusheng Han,Yunhe Cao,Tat-Soon Yeo,Fengfei Wang

doi:10.3390/rs13112051

Abstract

This paper investigates a robust clutter suppression and detection of ground moving target (GMT) imaging method for a multichannel synthetic aperture radar (MC-SAR) with high-squint angle mounted on hypersonic vehicle (HSV). A modified coarse-focused method with cubic chirp Fourier transform (CFT) is explored first that permits the coarsely focused imageries to be recovered, thus alleviated the impacts of GMT Doppler ambiguity and range cell migration (RCM). After that, in combination with joint-pixel model, a robust clutter suppression method which enhances the GMT integration, and improving the accuracy of radial speed (RS) recovery by modifying the matching between the beamformer center and GMT, is proposed. Due to that the first-order phase compensation and RS retrieval are predigested, the proposed algorithm has lower the algorithmic complexity. Finally, the feasibility of our proposed method are verified via experimental results based on simulated and real measured data.

Highlights

The proposed method was verified to be effective in relocation of real measured data
The targets are vehicles driving on a road in the coverage region, the distribution diagram of the scene is as shown in Figure 18 [50]
The existing ground moving target (GMT) indication studies for SAR are usually based on air-borne or spaceborne systems, while most researches of hypersonic vehicle (HSV)-SAR GMT indication work in a side-looking or single-channel squint-looking mode

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The HSV-borne synthetic aperture radar (HSV-SAR) possesses a speed advantage and a wider observed area, over the airborne SAR [3,4,5]. It has a flexible detection range and lower power requirements compared to the space-borne SAR [4]. Compare with the classical SAR, it exhibits the characteristics of fast responsiveness, multiple revisers, and persistent detections, due to its high-speed (e.g., 5 to 20 Mach), high-maneuverability, and global reaching [6,7,8,9]

Methods

Results

Conclusion