This course is intended to provide a signal theory framework for understanding the functional properties of a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signal, and its applications in specialized data processing problems in high-resolution and/or wide-bandwidth/wide-beamwidth SAR systems. The specific concepts that are examined are:

Coherent subaperture digital-spotlighting and imaging

2D (radar frequency and aspect angle) auto-calibration (focusing) to compensate for range-gate slip, GPS/INS errors, radar beam imperfections, and variations in terrain elevation; auto-calibration using in-scene targets

Moving target detection using along-track monopulse SAR; blind calibration of multi-channel SAR data for moving target indication (MTI); moving target imaging

Electronic Scanning Array (ESA) airborne radar for high-resolution and high-SNR azimuth-scanning SAR, and MTI

Blind calibration and GPS-based spatial and spectral registration of delta-heading multi-pass SAR data for coherent change detection (CCD)

ECCM for SAR using pulse diversity and PRF staggering, and associated signal processing and imaging algorithms

The mathematical concepts and algorithms will be demonstrated using the UHF-band NP-3 data, L-band MCARM data, and X-band DCS data.

This workshop session will present a state-of-the-art survey of several important applications of Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR). We will focus on applications involving fully polarimetric SAR imagery as well as single polarization SAR imagery Applications include: the detection and recognition of targets in SAR imagery, terrain clutter characterization, and detection of targets under trees and in the open using SAR change detection (coherent change detection, polarimetric change detection, etc). Examples of each of these radar applications will be demonstrated using high-resolution, fully polarimetric (and for comparison, single polarization ) SAR data.. A fully polarimetric SAR sensor is described and algorithms for optimum processing of the polarimetric data are presented, including the polarimetric whitening filter (PWF) and the polarimetric matched filter (PMF). A template-based target recognition system is described and performance results versus resolution and polarization are summarized..Super-resolution processing algorithms are applied to the SAR data and performance improvements are quantified; target recognition performance results are presented for 10- and 20-target classifiers using a large data set of very good quality, high resolution SAR imagery gathered by the Sandia X-band sensor. Additional topics include: target recognition performance comparisons using 1-D high range resolution (HRR) data versus 2-D SAR data; performance of the MSTAR model-based target recognition system; SAR change detection at microwave frequencies (X-band) and at low foliage penetration frequencies (UHF,VHF).

Time-frequency analysis has been an area of productive research. During the past decade, it has been used for radar imaging, target detection and feature extraction. By revealing time-varying frequency information embedded in radar signals, it has been successfully applied to radar image formation, back-scattering features, and micro-Doppler signatures. It has also been applied to improving radar performance for moving target detection, weak signal extraction, land mine detection in ground penetration radar, and maneuvering target detection in over-the-horizon radar. In the workshop, the author will introduce time-frequency analysis and review recent developments of time-frequency applications to radar imaging, target detection, and feature extraction, including time-frequency based image formation method, time-frequency analysis of EM back-scattering, and micro-Doppler signature analysis.

This Tutorial has a recommended book:

?Time-Frequency Transforms for Radar Imaging and Signal Analysis?, Victor C. Chen & H. Ling, Artech House, 2002.

You may order this book at a 15% discount and free shipping by contacting Dudley Kay at Scitech Publishing, 919-866-1501, or email dkay@scitechpub.com. Please order the book no later than April 15, 2004 in order to receive it before leaving for the conference (before April 23rd).