Extension of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technique to undersea applications

This paper presents results on the extension of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technique to underwater mapping applications. Due to the modest propagation speed of acoustic waves in water, the areal-mapping rate is found to be limited. A number of approaches are discussed in the paper which have the potential of significantly increasing the mapping rate. The map resolutions, both in azimuth and range, are derived for a synthetic array system employing multiple elements. The digital processing requirements, such as the complex multiplication rate and memory size are determined. It was found that the digital signal-processing requirements for many viable mapping systems are within the capability of existing processing hardware.