The Accurate Focusing and Resolution Analysis Method in Geosynchronous SAR

Abstract

In Geosynchronous SAR (GEO SAR), because of the increase of orbit height, the signal propagation delay time reaches up to hundreds of milliseconds, and the synthetic aperture time also reaches up to hundreds of seconds which will result in a curved synthetic aperture trajectory, thus the “Stop-and-Go” assumption and conventional imaging methods of low earth orbit SAR (LEO SAR) will lose effect in GEO SAR. In addition, because the angular velocity of earth rotation is approximately equal to that of satellite rotation, the Doppler parameter and resolution analysis in LEO SAR cannot be directly used too in GEO SAR either. In this paper, firstly, the accurate slant range model in GEO SAR is created based on the consideration of the error of “Stop-and-Go” assumption, and then the improved imaging method is proposed to compensate for the error of “Stop-and-Go” assumption and the effect of the curved synthetic aperture trajectory. Finally, based on the generalized ambiguity function (GAF) and projection theory, the accurate Doppler gradient vector is analytically obtained based on the consideration of earth rotation in GEO SAR, and the accurate resolution calculation in arbitrary direction is also derived in detail. All the simulation results verify the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed imaging method and resolution analysis method.