SAR change detection MTI

Abstract

This paper examines the theory, application, and results of using single-channel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with Moving Reference Processing (MRP) to focus and geolocate moving targets. Moving targets within a standard SAR imaging scene are defocused, displaced, or completely missing in the final image. Building on previous research at AFRL, the SAR-MRP method focuses and geolocates moving targets by reprocessing the SAR data to focus the movers rather than the stationary clutter. SAR change detection is used so that target detection and focusing is performed more robustly. In the cases where moving target returns possess the same range versus slow-time histories, a geolocation ambiguity results. This ambiguity can be resolved in a number of ways. This paper concludes by applying the SAR-MRP method to high-frequency radar measurements from persistent continuous-dwell SAR observations of a moving target.