The efficient high-resolution SAR reconstruction imaging algorithms for three-dimensional electrically large-scale targets in clutter

In recent years, significant effort of both the scientific and industrial community is invested in research and development of multifrequency, multipolarization, and high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. One of the key issues is to realize efficient methods for imaging, reconstruction, and target detection of three-dimensional (3-D) electrically large-scale objects. In this paper, an advanced multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) SAR based on high-resolution imaging algorithm was developed. Specifically, a reasonable sea surface model to quantify the influence of physical parameters in clutter was yielded as well. The SAR simulation system includes the following: (i) refined geometric-electromagnetic modeling by Gmsh, (ii) a dynamic sea surface model, (iii) single-input multiple-output (SIMO) radar imaging formation by employing a fast backprojection algorithm, (iv) design of MIMO antenna arrays to achieve a good trade-off between the main beam width and the side lobe level, (v) 3-D SAR imaging algorithm on the basis of optimized physical optics for electromagnetic scattering computation, and (vi) hardware acceleration technique using graphics processing unit. Finally, numerical experiments indicate that 3-D visualization of sphere, and examples of fighter aircraft and aircraft carrier are generated within 200 s, further proving correctness and effectiveness of the developed 3-D MIMO SAR imaging algorithm.