Motion Compensation for Synthetic Aperture Radar

Abstract

A generalized motion compensation approach applicable to all SAR modes, i.e., strip mapping (side-looking or squint), spotlight (or telescope) mapping, and Doppler beam sharpened mapping (DBS), is described. The basic concept is the formation for unit vector ū and the slaving of the real illuminating antenna and the processed synthetic antenna to this unit vector. The amount of motion compensation which is required is developed in terms of transfer curves for the main motion reduction paths, i.e., translational, rotational (lever arm), and real antenna stabilization. The transfer curves are obtained by dividing the expected motion spectrum by the required sensitivity spectrum. The most critical motion reduction path for typical parameters is shown to be the translational path. The lever arm and real antenna stabilization paths are less critical, but must also be implemented.