SIMULATION OF SAR SIGNALS FROM MOVING VEHICLES ( FOCUSING ACCELERATING GROUND MOVING TARGETS )

This paper examines the effects of uncompensated target acceleration on the focusing of moving targets in airborne SAR imagery. Vehicles travelling on roads and highways routinely experience acceleration, and thus any GMTI system or realistic target simulator must consider its effects. Both along-track and across-track acceleration are examined through simulations and experimental data from Environment Canada’s airborne CV580 dual-channel SAR system. Time-frequency analysis is used to detect the presence of target acceleration, and estimation of the instantaneous frequency enables a focused target image to be obtained. The acceleration parameters themselves cannot be uniquely determined using only two channels.