Multi-mode Real-Time SAR On-Board Processing

A novel distributed computer framework for onboard processing is presented. It enables real-time high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing and multi-channel ground moving target indication (GMTI). To handle the different applications running on the onboard processor, a new scripting language was developed. The framework is capable of running algorithm implementations for multicore processing or graphical processing unit (GPU), e.g., fast-factorized back-projection (FFBP) and direct back-projection (DBP) algorithms . The software architecture of the framework and the operational modes as well as some applications are discussed in detail. Furthermore, first experimental results obtained with the framework are presented.