Doppler aliasing reduction in SAR imagery using stepped-frequency waveforms

• Published in: IEEE transactions on aerospace and electronic systems Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 163 - 175
• Main Authors: Luminati, J.E., Hale, T.B., Temple, M.A., Havrilla, M.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-01-2007; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aircraft components; Aliasing; Approximation; Beam steering; Computer science; Doppler; Doppler effect; Filters; Government; Image resolution; Imagery; Lighting; Protection; Radar polarimetry; Radar scattering; Synthetic aperture radar; Waveforms
• ISSN: 0018-9251; 1557-9603
• DOI: 10.1109/TAES.2007.357124

A new technique for eliminating Doppler aliasing artifacts in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is presented. The technique uses continuous transmission of stepped-frequency (SF) waveforms to generate a simple, but effective, approximation of a two-dimensional |sinc| 2 ambiguity function. This approach ensures aliasing artifacts are placed at nulls in a Doppler filter, effectively removing them from the imagery. Various methods of generating SF waveforms are introduced and their performance is quantified. Finally, simulated SAR imagery shows elimination of more than 99% of the aliased energy