Real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing with a new subaperture approach

A time-domain subaperture approach that is suitable for real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing and that produces high-quality, full-resolution images is presented. The real-time subaperture algorithm is based on an approximation of the phase history correction in each subaperture with a simple linear correction, which can be carried out by an up/down-conversion of the received signal followed by a moving average operation. The characteristics of the impulse response function are improved considerably by means of a frequency overlap of the subapertures and become comparable to a conventional matched filter response. Special algorithms for high-quality SAR processing, such as autofocus, Doppler centroid estimation, and range migration correction, can be efficiently implemented. High flexibility is achieved for multilook processing and no secondary range compression is needed, even for high squint angles