Coherent Fusion for Multistatic Forward-looking SAR with Flexible Topology using Generalized Matrix Pencil Algorithm

Multistatic forward-looking synthetic aperture radar (MF -SAR) can obtain high-resolution radar imagery of the area in front of the receivers. However, it is difficult to fuse the multiple measurements when the echo data are sampled with gaps. The quality of reconstructed imagery of the MF -SAR depends on the strict topology and the data fusion methods. To improve the imaging quality with a flexible topology, a coherent fusion method for MF -SAR using the generalized matrix pencil algorithm (GMPA) is proposed. First, the MF-SAR system consists of one stationary transmitter and two receivers is established. The reasons for limiting the topology structure of MF -SAR are analyzed. Second, the generalized bandwidth synthesis direction of the wavenumber spectrum is defined to effectively extrapolate the gap data. The projected measurements are corrected to align the wavenumber spectrum data. Finally, the matrix pencil algorithm is adopted to composite the spatial bandwidth observed by the leading receiver and the following receiver along the generalized bandwidth synthesis direction. Numerical simulations and experimental data are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.