Azimuth Relocation for Multichannel SAR Ground Moving Targets via Noncoregistrated Inteferometry

A ground moving target usually shifts its initial azimuth location in the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image due to the radial motion. To address this problem, a new azimuth relocation method is proposed for a multichannel SAR in this letter. Based on the signal analysis in the range-compressed domain, it is found that the zeroth-order term of the interferometric phase without coregistration is determined by the moving target’s initial azimuth location. A new azimuth relocation method utilizing the noncoregistrated interferometric phase is then proposed. First, the moving target is detected after clutter suppression in the range-compressed domain. Then, the interferometric phase along the slow time without coregistration can be extracted for parameter estimation via the least-squares method. Compared with the existing radial velocity-based relocation methods, the proposed method has higher accuracy, and there is no azimuth location ambiguity problem even when the target has a large radial velocity. Finally, both the simulated and real data are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.