Radar 3-D Forward-Looking Imaging for Extended Targets Based on Attribute Scattering Model

Radar 3-D forward-looking imaging has always been a difficult issue in the radar detection. In this letter, a forward-looking 3-D imaging method based on attribute scattering model (ASM) for extended targets is proposed. First, an imaging model based on point scattering model (PSM) with wavefront modulation technique is constructed to achieve 3-D forward-looking imaging. Second, considering the fact that PSM-based imaging model assumes that the target is composed of a set of discrete points, it is not suitable for reconstructing the structure feature of extended targets, i.e., line structure and surface structure. To extract more geometry information of the target, the ASM that includes point scatterers (PSs), line-segment scatterers (LSSs), and rectangular-plate scatterers (RPSs) is adapted to the 3-D imaging model. Solving the parameter sets of PSs, LSSs, and RPSs with the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMMs) algorithm, the edge and surface structure of the extended target can be reconstructed. The simulation results based on electromagnetic (EM) calculation by FEKO verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.