Forward-Looking Geometric Configuration Optimization Design for Spaceborne-Airborne Multistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar

Spaceborne-airborne multistatic synthetic aperture radar (SA-MuSAR) has the ability to provide high-resolution forward-looking imagery for receivers, but it relies on careful design of the geometric configuration (GC). In this article, a forward-looking GC optimization design method is proposed to obtain a high-quality fused image with limited observation time. First, the relationship between the spatial resolution and GC is illustrated by the wavenumber spectrum distribution of SA-MuSAR. Second, GC evaluators depending on the distribution of multiple wavenumber spectrum data are proposed. The GC design problem of coherent SA-MuSAR is transformed into a constrained multiobjective optimization problem. An intelligent evolutionary algorithm is adopted to optimize the wavenumber spectrum distribution. With the proposed method, high-quality forward-looking imagery can be obtained with a short observation time. Numerical simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.