Analysis and comparison of multichannel SAR imaging algorithms

Abstract

Multichannel synthetic aperture radar (MSAR) systems are essential for applications such as ground moving target indication (GMTI), interferometric SAR (InSAR), and high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS) imaging. In this paper, we analyze and compare MSAR image reconstruction algorithms. Previously, image reconstruction for MSAR has relied heavily on frequency domain matched filtering. Time domain image reconstruction algorithms have several attractive qualities, but their use has been limited due to a high computational burden. In this paper, we utilize digital beamforming and the phase center approximation to develop a fast time domain (fast factorized back-projection, FFBP) algorithm for MSAR. We present two FFBP implementations for MSAR and perform a comparative study between MSAR imaging algorithms. The numerical results confirm the feasibility of the proposed FFBP algorithms for MSAR.