Study on key techniques for synthetic aperture ladar system

Abstract

The spatial resolution of a conventional imaging LADAR system is constrained by the diffraction limit of the telescope aperture. The purpose of this work is to investigate Synthetic Aperture Imaging LADAR (SAIL), which employs aperture synthesis with coherent laser radar to overcome the diffraction limit and achieve fine-resolution, long range, two-dimensional imaging with modest aperture diameters. Because of many advantages, LADAR based on synthetic aperture theory is becoming research hotspot and practicality. Synthetic Aperture LADAR (SAL) technology satisfies the critical need for reliable, long-range battlefield awareness. An image that takes radar tens of seconds to produce can be produced in a few thousands of a second at optical frequencies. While radar waves respond to macroscopic features such as corners, edges, and facets, laser waves interact with microscopic surface characteristics, which results in imagery that appears more familiar and is more easily interpreted. SAL could provide high resolution optical/infrared imaging. In the present paper we have tried to answer three questions: (1) the process of collecting the samples over the large synthetic aperture; (2) differences between SAR and SAL; (3) the key techniques for SAL system. The principle and progress of SAL are introduced and a typical SAL system is described. Beam stabilization, chirp laser, and heterodyne detection, which are among the most challenging aspects of SAL, are discussed in detail.