Abstract
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that employs multiple antennas to transmit orthogonal waveforms and multiple antennas to receive radar echoes is a recently proposed remote sensing concept. It has been shown that MIMO SAR can be used to improve remote sensing system performance. Most of the MIMO SAR research so far focused on signal/data models and corresponding signal processing algorithm. Little work related to MIMO SAR antenna analysis can be found. One of the main advantages of MIMO SAR is that the degrees of freedom can be greatly increased by the concept of virtual antenna array. In this paper, we analyze the virtual antenna array for MIMO SAR high-resolution wide-swath remote sensing applications. The one-dimensional uniform and nonuniform linear antenna arrays are investigated and their application potentials in high-resolution wide-swath remote sensing are introduced. The impacts of nonuniform spatial sampling in the virtual antenna array are analyzed, along with a multichannel filtering-based reconstruction algorithm. Conceptual system and discussions are provided. It is shown that high operation flexibility and reconfigurability can be obtained by utilizing the virtual antenna arrays provided by the MIMO SAR systems, thus enabling a satisfactory remote sensing performance.
Highlights
Multiple-input multiple-output radar has received much attention in recent years [1,2,3]; little work about MIMO synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been investigated [4,5,6]
One of the main advantages of MIMO SAR is that the degrees of freedom can be greatly increased by the concept of virtual array provided by the multiple antennas
It has been shown that MIMO SAR can be used to improve remote sensing system performance
Summary
Multiple-input multiple-output radar has received much attention in recent years [1,2,3]; little work about MIMO synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been investigated [4,5,6]. With optimally designed antenna array positions, we can create a very long array steering vector with a small number of antennas [12,13,14] This provides high flexibility and reconfigurability in antenna configuration, enabling a flexible and reconfigurable SAR remote sensing performance. One of the main advantages of MIMO SAR is that the degrees of freedom can be greatly increased by the concept of virtual array provided by the multiple antennas. We analyze the virtual antenna array design for MIMO SAR high-resolution wide-swath remote sensing, which has not been investigated in the literature. Their application potentials in high-resolution wide-swath remote sensing are introduced.
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