A novel non-interpolation polar format algorithm using non-lineal flight trajectories and auto-adaptive PRF technique

The classical interpolation-based Polar Format Algorithm (PFA) for spotlight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) results in numerous computation load, which, reduces processing speed and increase system complexity. To decrease computation load, this paper proposes a novel non-interpolation PFA algorithm for sensor flying along non-lineal flight trajectories, which are specially designed curves in conical surface. Then an innovative auto-adaptive Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) technique is put forward to uniformly sample signal in azimuth direction. The computation load of the new PFA is merely left to azimuth chirp z-transforms (CZTs) and range fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) after dechirp processing and residual video phase (RVP) compensation. Two flight modes (ellipse trajectory mode and hyperbola trajectory mode) are analyzed. A lineal approximation method is proposed to simplify non-lineal sensor trajectory analysis. Computer simulation results for multiple point targets validate the presented approach. Comparison of computation load between this PFA and traditional PFA is represented in Appendix B.