Range migration algorithm for airborne squint mode spotlight SAR imaging

Abstract

Since the reference signal based on the fixed reference range is used in the range migration algorithm (RMA), the RMA is not available to process an airborne squint-mode spotlight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Thus, the modified reference signal to transform a squint-mode data to a broadside-mode data is introduced on the basis of the coordinate transformation and the extended Taylor approximation. Then, using the principle of the stationary phase, the presented formulation is analysed. Moreover, to compensate curvature errors, the proposed method is extended on the basis of the subarea technique. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by some numerical simulations via a pulsed spotlight SAR simulator.