Extension of the 3-D range migration algorithm to cylindrical and spherical scanning geometries

A near field three-dimensional (3-D) synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) algorithm specially tailored for cylindrical and spherical scanning geometries is presented. An imaging system with 3-D capability can be implemented by using a stepped-frequency radar which synthesizes a two-dimensional (2-D) aperture. Typical scanning geometries commonly used are planar, cylindrical, and spherical. The 3-D range migration algorithm (RMA) can be readily used with a planar scanning geometry. This algorithm is extremely accurate, preserves the phase, and corrects for the wavefront curvature. The RMA cannot be directly applied with nonplanar scanning geometries. However, as an alternative solution, we propose to backpropagate the backscattered data onto a planar aperture in the vicinity of the measurement aperture and then apply the 3-D RMA. The proposed imaging algorithm is validated both numerically and experimentally.