Sliding Spotlight Bistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar Image Formation Algorithm Based on Direct-Path Signal Compensation

In fixed-receiver bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the spaceborne SAR is used as an illuminator. The direct-path signal and bistatic SAR raw data are sampled by the fixed-receiver which is placed on the top of a building or a hill. As the direct-path signal has high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) advantage and almost the same synchronization error terms, it is used as the reference signal for the range matched filtering. Then the range compression can be realized with a time and frequency synchronization process. However, after range match filtering by the direct-path signal, the range history of point target consists of three square-root terms, for which it is hard to use the Principle of Stationary Phase (POSP). Meanwhile, the two-dimensional (2-D) spatial variation of the target’s 2-D frequency spectrum is serious. By combining azimuth preprocessing, direct-path signal compensation and nonlinear Chirp Scaling (NLCS) imaging algorithm, a new focusing algorithm is presented in this paper. Simulation results of point targets are presented to validate the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed imaging algorithm. Finally, this algorithm is also validated by the measured data which is obtained using the HITCHHIKER system.