Inverse Fast Multipole Method for Monostatic Imaging Applications

A 3-D imaging technique for monostatic radar cross section measurement is presented. The method is based on an existing formulation conceived for bistatic geometries which takes into account the scattered field polarization and is accelerated using the fast multipole method. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image processing includes acquired field, which is of interest for polarimetric SAR imaging. In addition, the proposed technique overcomes the limitation of fast-Fourier-transform-based inverse techniques on canonical domains (planar, cylindrical, and spherical). Validation with simulations and measurements is presented. Calculation time is also drastically reduced using graphics processing unit implementation.