Comparing MIMO SAR and Multichannel SAR for Ground Moving Target detection

Multichannel SAR SYSTEMS that exploit receiving antenna sub-arrays displaced in the along track-direction have been shown to provide the capability to detect ground moving targets and potentially estimate their radial motion velocity, thus making possible their correct relocation inside the SAR image of the background. However, the use of only two receiving channels to contain cost, mass and data-rate, imposes some limitations in terms of potentiality of target velocity estimation, that can be overcame by exploiting a full MIMO SAR scheme. This paper compares the two approaches to assess the relative merits and drawbacks of the two solutions.