Processing multiple SAR modes with baseband azimuth scaling

This paper presents an efficient phase preserving processor for the focusing of data acquired in sliding spotlight, TOPS (Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans) and ScanSAR imaging modes. They share in common a linear variation of the Doppler centroid along the azimuth dimension, which is due to a steering of the antenna (either mechanically or electronically) throughout the data take for the first two modes, and due to the burst mode in the ScanSAR case. Existing approaches for the azimuth processing can become inefficient due to the additional processing to overcome the folding in the focused domain. In this paper an azimuth scaling approach is presented to perform the azimuth processing, whose kernel is the same for all three modes. Data acquired by TerraSAR-X in sliding spotlight, TOPS and ScanSAR modes are used to validate the developed algorithm.