Space-Variant Filtering for Wavefront Curvature Correction in Polar Formatted Bistatic SAR Image

An analytical expression of the phase error from wavefront curvature in bistatic spotlight-mode synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image reconstructed via polar format algorithm (PFA) is derived in this paper. The wavefront curvature effect, which arises from the unrealistic planar wavefront assumption in bistatic PFA, induces phase error terms resulting in space-variant geometry distortion and defocusing. Based on the analytical expression of the wavefront curvature error, a space-variant filtering approach is applied to compensate for it in the polar formatted bistatic SAR image. Analysis on the scene size limit after using the correction method indicates that the derived space-variant filter is capable of extending the focused scene size of bistatic PFA considerably. Point target (PT) simulation validates the approach.