An efficient means to mitigate wavefront curvature effects in polar format processed SAR imagery

Abstract

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images processed using the polar format algorithm (PFA) may exhibit distortion if the curvature of the spherical wavefronts are not accounted for. The distortion manifests in geometric shifts and defocusing of targets, and intensifies as distances between pixels and the scene reference position increase. In this work, we demonstrate a method to mitigate the effects of wavefront curvature by applying localized (space-variant) phase corrections to sub-regions selected from the polar format processed image. The modified sub-images are then reassembled into a full image. To minimize discontinuities in the reconstructed image, the spatially variant phase adjustments are made to regions larger than the sub-images, and pared down before being reinserted into the complete image. The result is a SAR process that retains the efficiency of the PFA, yet avoids scene size limitations due to wavefront curvature distortions. The method is illustrated and validated using simulations and real data collected by the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) Lynx® Multi-mode Radar System.