US 2014/0232590 A1 · SAR IMAGE FORMATION

Abstract

SAR imaging method that includes applying PRF decimation to range-compressed IQ data to generate PRF-decimated range-compressed IQ data for each image block of an image and applying motion compensation to the PRF-decimated range-compressed IQ data to generate motion-compensated data for each image block. The method includes computing first stage image values at image grid point intersections of iso-range lines and vertical grid lines for each image bock based on the motion-compensated data for each image block. The method also includes computing second stage image values for the image grid point intersections by interpolation using the first stage image values at the image grid point intersections and correcting image phase of the second stage image values for the image grid point intersections to generate phase-corrected image values for each image block. The method includes generating a full-resolution SAR image by summing the phase-corrected image values for each image block.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging method, the method comprising:

applying range pulse compression to SAR in-phase and quadrature (IQ) data for each image block of a SAR image grid to generate range-compressed IQ data for each image block;
applying pulse range frequency (PRF) decimation to the range-compressed IQ data to generate PRF-decimated range-compressed IQ data for each image block;
applying motion compensation to the PRF-decimated range-compressed IQ data to generate motion-compensated data for each image block;
computing first stage image values at image grid point intersections of iso-range lines and vertical grid lines for each image bock based on the motion-compensated data for each image block;
computing second stage image values for the image grid point intersections by interpolation using the first stage image values at the image grid point intersections;
correcting image phase of the second stage image values for the image grid point intersections to generate phase-corrected image values for each image block;
and
generating a full-resolution SAR image by summing the phase-corrected image values for each image block.

5 more elements

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging system, the system comprising:

one or more processors;
and
a memory, the memory including executable code representing instructions that when executed cause the system to:
apply range pulse compression to SAR in-phase and quadrature (IQ) data for each image block of a SAR image grid to generate range-compressed IQ data for each image block;
apply pulse range frequency (PRF) decimation to the range-compressed IQ data to generate PRF-decimated range-compressed IQ data for each image block;
apply motion compensation to the PRF-decimated range-compressed IQ data to generate motion-compensated data for each image block;
compute first stage image values at image grid point intersections of iso-range lines and vertical grid lines for each image bock based on the motion-compensated data for each image block;
compute second stage image values for the image grid point intersections by interpolation using the first stage image values at the image grid point intersections;
correct image phase of the second stage image values for the image grid point intersections to generate phase-corrected image values for each image block;
and
generate a full-resolution SAR image by summing the phase-corrected image values for each image block.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Sar image formation

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Sar image formation

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Abstract

Claims16