SAR raw radar simulator combining optical geometry and full-wave electromagnetic approaches

Modern research in the field of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology requires intensive simulations. The best possible solution is based on full-electromagnetic simulations, however such simulations require huge amounts of computational power. Most radar simulators presently used are based on the optical geometry approach. Full-wave electromagnetic methods require many more computational resources and are usually applicable to the analysis of geometries no larger than several wavelengths. The computational power currently available on standard PC computers is still insufficient to carry out the full-wave electromagnetic simulation of large scenes used in radar applications. This paper presents a new combined concept based on the optical geometry approach enhanced with the simplified full-wave electromagnetic simulation of larger facets of the size of a few radar resolution cells.