Novel approach for ISAR image cross-range scaling

Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging systems produce electromagnetic images of targets in the range-Doppler domain. In order to rescale the image in a homogeneous range-cross range domain (meters by meters), the modulus of the target effective rotation vector must be known. Although in some cases it can be retrieved by means of ancillary data, in most cases the modulus of the target effective rotation vector must be estimated. A blind technique is proposed for estimating the modulus of the target effective rotation vector that exploits information carried by the chirp rate of scattering centres. A technique based on image segmentation, local polynomial Fourier transform (LPFT), and image contrast (IC) maximisation is used in order to extract the scattering centres and estimate their chirp rate. Simulated and real data analyses are provided to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.