Modelling and performance evaluation of a new subaperture approach for real-time SAR processing

This approach reduces the computational requirements considerably without degrading the image quality. The real-time subaperture algorithm is based on the coherent summation of unfocused subapertures. By means of a frequency overlap of the subapertures and an optimization of the phase variation in each subaperture, the characteristics of the impulse response function become comparable with a conventional matched filter response. This paper reports also the modelling of the algorithm using short FFT's for efficient real-time SAR processing as well as the conceptual design of a high resolution real-time SAR processor for DLR's experimental SAR system. The results of performance analysis of all processing stages are given in terms of image quality parameters, saturation and quantization noise. The results of offline image processing using the raw data of the E-SAR system are shown.<
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