Efficient Simulation of hybrid stripmap/spotlight SAR raw signals from extended scenes

The hybrid stripmap/spotlight mode for a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system is able to generate microwave images with an azimuth resolution better than the one achieved in the stripmap mode and a ground coverage better than the one of the spotlight mode. In this paper, time- and frequency-domain-based procedures to simulate the raw signal in the hybrid stripmap/spotlight mode are presented and compared. We show that a two-dimensional Fourier domain approach, although highly desirable for its efficiency, is not viable. Accordingly, we propose a one-dimensional (1-D) range Fourier domain approach, followed by 1-D azimuth time-domain integration. This method is much more efficient than the time-domain one, so that extended scenes can be considered. In addition, it involves approximations usually acceptable in actual cases. Effectiveness of the simulation scheme is assessed by using numerical examples.

[1]  Riccardo Lanari,et al.  Synthetic Aperture Radar Processing , 1999 .

[2]  A. R. Brenner,et al.  PAMIR - a wideband phased array SAR/MTI system , 2003 .

[3]  C. J. Baker,et al.  High resolution processing of hybrid strip-map/spotlight mode SAR , 1996 .

[4]  Josef Mittermayer,et al.  TerraSAR-X: predicted performance , 2003, SPIE Remote Sensing.

[5]  J. Mittermayer,et al.  Sliding spotlight SAR processing for TerraSAR-X using a new formulation of the extended chirp scaling algorithm , 2003, IGARSS 2003. 2003 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37477).

[6]  Francesco Caltagirone,et al.  SkyMed/COSMO mission overview , 1998, IGARSS '98. Sensing and Managing the Environment. 1998 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Symposium Proceedings. (Cat. No.98CH36174).

[7]  E. Boerner,et al.  Evaluation of TerraSAR-X Spotlight processing accuracy based on a new Spotlight raw data simulator , 2003, IGARSS 2003. 2003 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37477).

[8]  R. Keith Raney,et al.  Precision SAR processing using chirp scaling , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[9]  Gianfranco Fornaro,et al.  New algorithm for processing hybrid strip-map/spotlight-mode synthetic aperture radar data , 2000, SPIE Remote Sensing.

[10]  G. Fornaro.  Trajectory deviations in airborne SAR: analysis and compensation , 1999 .

[11]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  SARAS: a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) raw signal simulator , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[12]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  A novel across-track SAR interferometry simulator , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[13]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  SAR raw signal simulation of actual ground sites described in terms of sparse input data , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[14]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  Efficient spotlight SAR raw signal simulation of extended scenes , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[15]  Gianfranco Fornaro,et al.  New approach for hybrid strip-map/spotlight SAR data focusing , 2001 .