J4 ›› 2010, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4): 676-682+699.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-2400.2010.04.017

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

High azimuth resolution wide swath imaging based on the intrapulse spotlight SAR

WU Qi-song;XING Meng-dao;LIU Bao-chang;BAO Zheng   

  1. (Key Lab. of Radar Signal Processing, Xidian Univ., Xi'an  710071, China)
  • Received:2009-04-15 Online:2010-08-20 Published:2010-10-11
  • Contact: WU Qi-song E-mail:wuqisong@163.com

Abstract:

With respect to the contradiction between high resolution and wide swath, the intrapulse spotlight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode is presented to achieve high azimuth resolution wide swath imaging. Firstly, the model of intrapulse spotlight SAR is established, and then the characteristic of echoes in this mode is analyzed in detail. The conclusion that the intrapulse scanning can make scatterers in the different azimuth sub-scene ambiguous are given. The degrees of freedom along the elevation direction are used to resolve the range ambiguities. Meanwhile we analyze the impact of the fluctuating terrain on the imaging result. In the intrapulse spotlight SAR mode, the long synthetic aperture acquired by the intrapulse scanning technique can realize the high azimuth resolution. Meanwhile a low pulse repetition frequency (PRF) is adopted to achieve a wide swath. Therefore high azimuth resolution wide swath imaging can be achieved by intrapulse spotlight SAR mode. Results of simulation show the effectiveness of this method.

Key words: synthetic aperture radar (SAR), spotlight SAR, high azimuth resolution, wide swath imaging, intrapulse scanning