Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging Using MIMO Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Sensors

In this paper, the usage of MIMO Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar sensors in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) applications is investigated. MIMO sensors use multiple transmitter antennas and receiver antennas to perform multiple measurements simultaneously in order to – among other purposes – reduce the time of measurement series. It could be displayed that MIMO measurements can be used to increase the step size of a synthetic aperture without having a negative impact on the SAR image. Thus, the SAR measurement time can be reduced by a factor up to the number of MIMO channels, depending on the used MIMO array geometry.