Accurate Imaging Method for Moving Target with Arbitrary Shape for Multi-Static UWB Radar

Ultra-wideband pulse radar is a promising technology for the imaging sensors of rescue robots operating in disaster scenarios, where optical sensors are not applicable because of thick smog or high-density gas. For the above application, while one promising ultra-wideband radar imaging algorithm for a target with arbitrary motion has already been proposed with a compact observation model, it is based on an ellipsoidal approximation of the target boundary, and is difficult to apply to complex target shapes. To tackle the above problem, this paper proposes a nonparametric and robust imaging algorithm for a target with arbitrary motion including rotation and translation being observed by multi-static radar, which is based on the matching of target boundary points obtained by the range points migration (RPM) algorithm extended to the multi-static radar model. To enhance the imaging accuracy in situations having lower signalto-noise ratios, the proposed method also adopts an integration scheme for the obtained range points, the antenna location part of which is correctly compensated for the estimated target motion. Results from numerical simulations show that the proposed method accurately extracts the surface of a moving target, and estimates the motion of the target, without any target or motion model. key words: UWB pulse radar, moving target, range points migration (RPM), non-parametric imaging, multi-static UWB radar