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The concept of Geosynchronous Circular SAR (Geo-CSAR) is introduced in this paper. With the design of the geosynchronous orbit parameters, a near-circular satellite sub-track could be formed to enable the staring imaging mode, which supports the advanced applications for wide-field and 3-D information acquisition under long-term consistent observation. This paper also analyzes Geo-CSAR's imaging formation capabilities, and concludes its attractive advantages over low-earth orbit spaceborne SAR in terms of instantaneous coverage, consistent observing area, 3-D positioning accuracy and etc.. Encouraging expectations for Geo-CSAR thus could be positively predicted in military investigation and disaster monitoring management applications.

The Normalized Least-Mean-Squares (NLMS) algorithm is widely used to cancel the direct and multiple path interferences in Passive Coherent Location (PCL) radar systems. This study proposes that the interference cancelation using the NLMS algorithm and the calculation of the radar Cross Ambiguity Function (CAF) can be modeled as a notch filter, with the notch located at zero Doppler frequency in the surface of the radar CAF. The analysis shows that the notch’s width and depth are closely related to the step size of the NLMS algorithm. Subsequently, the effect of the notch in PCL radar target detection is analyzed. The results suggest that the detection performance of the PCL radar deteriorates because of the wide notch. Furthermore, the Nonuniform NLMS (NNLMS) algorithm is proposed for removing the clutter with the Doppler frequency by using notch filtering. A step-size matrix is adopted to mitigate the low Doppler frequency clutter and lower the floor of the radar CAF. With the step-size matrix, can be obtained notches of different depths and widths in different range units of the CAF, which can filter the low Doppler frequency clutter. In addition, the convergence rate of the NNLMS algorithm is better than that of the traditional NLMS algorithm. The validity of the NNLMS algorithm is verified by experimental results.

In the MOtion COmpensation (MOCO) approach to airborne repeat-pass interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based on motion measurement data, the measurement inaccuracies of Inertial Measurement Unit/Global Positioning System (IMU/GPS) and the positioning errors of the target, which may contribute to the residual uncompensated motion errors, affect the imaging result and interferometric measurement. Considering the effects of the two types of error, this paper builds a mathematical model of residual motion errors in presence of squint, and analyzes the effects on the residual motion errors induced by the measurement inaccuracies of IMU/GPS and the positioning errors of the target. In particular, the effects of various measurement inaccuracies of IMU/GPS on interferometric SAR image quality, interferometric phase, and digital elevation model precision are disscussed. Moreover, the paper quantitatively researches the effects of residual motion errors on airborne repeat-pass interferometric SAR through theoretical and simulated analyses and provides theoretical bases for system design and signal processing.

The airborne interferometric SAR platform suffers from instability factors, such as air turbulence and mechanical vibrations during flight. Such factors cause the oscillation of the flexible baseline, which leads to significant degradation of the performance of the interferometric SAR system. This study is concerned with the baseline oscillation. First, the error of the slant range model under baseline oscillation conditions is formulated. Then, the SAR complex image signal and dual-channel correlation coefficient are modeled based on the first-order, second-order, and generic slant range error. Subsequently, the impact of the baseline oscillation on the imaging and interferometric performance of the SAR system is analyzed. Finally, simulations of the echo data are used to validate the theoretical analysis of the baseline oscillation in the airborne interferometric SAR.

Radar low-elevation estimation performance in the VHF band is severely influenced in the presence of multipath. To deal with this problem, this study first analyzes general MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) and other algorithms, pointing out that the essential effectiveness of these algorithms is a weighting of the basic spectrum searching formula, which inhibits large spectrum values produced by a small angle. On this basis, this paper subsequently presents an elevation-estimating model via a general MUSIC algorithm and a new lowelevation angle estimation method, which utilizes a proper weight. Compared with existing methods, the new method has a higher probability of success and better performance. Simulation results verify the validity and correctness of this method and model.

The measurement inaccuracies of Inertial Measurement Unit/Global Positioning System (IMU/GPS) as well as the positioning error of the target may contribute to the residual uncompensated motion errors in the MOtion COmpensation (MOCO) approach based on the measurement of IMU/GPS. Aiming at the effects of target positioning error on MOCO for airborne interferometric SAR, the paper firstly deduces a mathematical model of residual motion error bring out by target positioning error under the condition of squint. And the paper analyzes the effects on the residual motion error caused by system sampling delay error, the Doppler center frequency error and reference DEM error which result in target positioning error based on the model. Then, the paper discusses the effects of the reference DEM error on the interferometric SAR image quality, the interferometric phase and the coherent coefficient. The research provides theoretical bases for the MOCO precision in signal processing of airborne high precision SAR and airborne repeat-pass interferometric SAR.

Due to its agility, flexibility and accuracy, airborne repeat-pass Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is capable of overcoming the disadvantages of long revisit time and low resolution in space-borne SAR interferometry, and play an irreplaceable role in monitoring the deformation of landslides, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc. In this paper, the history and status in the world wide about the technology of airborne repeat-pass SAR interferometry are reviewed detailedly. Then after the accuracy of this technology is analyzed, its key problems in practice are presented, and the related researches in this field are also introduced comprehensively. The development trend and the prospect of this technology are also described in this paper. Finally, it is pointed that several problems still need to be studied further for accurate parameter inversion.

A novel method of moving targets detection taking Doppler spectrum analysis technique for Passive Coherent Radar (PCR) is provided. After dividing the receiving signals into segments as pulse series, it utilizes the technique of pulse compress and Doppler processing to detect and locate the targets. Based on the algorithm for Pulse-Doppler (PD) radar, the equipollence between continuous and pulsed wave in match filtering is proved and details of this method are introduced. To compare it with the traditional method of Cross-Ambiguity Function (CAF) calculation, the relationship and mathematical modes of them are analyzed, with some suggestions on parameters choosing. With little influence to the gain of targets, the method can greatly promote the processing efficiency. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by offline processing real collected data sets and simulation results.

Joint three-dimensional location algorithm aims to get the north, east and height coordinates of each pixel in several adjacent Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) scenes simultaneously. Joint calibration is a key procedure to achieve an accurate three-dimensional location. It can ensure the continuity of three-dimensional location among adjacent scenes, and achieve the location of large areas with few Ground Control Points (GCPs) by using Tie Points (TPs). In this paper, a new joint calibration algorithm for airborne interferometric SAR is proposed. It calibrates north, east and height coordinates simultaneously. It employs weighted optimization method to carry out calibration, and introduces weights to calibration to discriminate GCPs and TPs with different coherences and locations. The experimental results on airborne InSAR data show that the three-dimensional location accuracy by using the proposed calibration algorithm is better than that by the traditional method.

This paper gives the performance research on the ambiguity function and resolution of passive radar based on DVB-S (Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite) signal. The radar system structure and signal model of DVB-S signal are firstly studied, then the ambiguity function of DVB-S signal is analyzed. At last, it has been obtained how the bistatic radar position impacts the resolution. Theoretical analyses and computer simulation show that DVB-S signal is applicable as an illuminator for passive radar.

GEOsynchronous Circular SAR (GEOCSAR), having a high orbit, operating in a slant ellipse, and imaging in spherical surface, should be newly modeled to assess the resolution performance. In this paper, starting from modeling geometry, a function of slant range difference and orientation angle is deduced. Then we can obtain the three dimensional point spread function and make a conclusion of resolution affected by both sinc function and bessel function of first kind. Lastly, resolution with the variation of location of target, bandwidth, radius of orbit, and integral time is analyzed detailedly. Finally raw signal simulations show the validity of theoretical model.

The SAR system operating at low frequency is susceptible to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) from television station, radio station, and some other civil electronic facilities. The presence of RFI degrades the SAR image quality, and obscures the targets in the scene. Furthermore, RFI can cause interferometric phase error in repeat track InSAR system. In order to analyze the effect of RFI on interferometric phase of InSAR, real measured RFI signal are added on cone simulated SAR echoes. The imaging and interferometric processing results of both the RFI-contaminated and raw data are given. The effect of real measured RFI signal on repeat track InSAR system is analyzed. Finally, the imaging and interferometric processing results of both with and without RFI suppressed of the P band airborne repeat track InSAR real data are presented, which demonstrates the efficiency of the RFI suppression method in terms of decreasing the interferometric phase errors caused by RFI.

While the use of SAR Tomography (TomoSAR) based on Compressive Sensing (CS) makes it possible to reconstruct the height profile of an observed scene, the performance of the reconstruction decreases for a structural observed scene. To deal with this issue, we propose using TomoSAR based on Block Compressive Sensing (BCS), which changes the reconstruction of the structural observed scene into a BCS problem under the principles of CS. Further, the block size is established by utilizing the relationship between the characteristics of the structural observed scene and the SAR parameters, such that the BCS problem is efficiently solved with a block sparse l1/l2 norm optimization signal model. Compared with existing CSTomoSAR methods, the proposed BCS-TomoSAR method makes better use of the sparsity and structure information of a structural observed scene, and has higher precision and better reconstruction performance. We used simulations and Radarsat-2 data to verify the effectiveness of this proposed method.