High-Resolution Forward-Looking Imaging Method for FMCW Radar Based on Sparse Sampling

Platform-induced synthetic aperture is an effective approach to enhancing azimuth resolution in forward-looking radar imaging. However, for small platforms such as automobiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, the large volume of echo data required under continuous sampling, combined with the presence of Doppler ambiguity, poses substantial challenges for high-resolution imaging. To address these issues, this paper proposes a forward-looking FMCW radar imaging method based on sparse sampling intervals. A uniform linear array is first employed to acquire measurements at different platform positions, and an initial range-angle image is obtained for each channel. Adaptive beamforming is then applied to impose nulls on false-alarm regions, including grating lobes and left-right ambiguity. Finally, coherent accumulation across channels yields a high-resolution range-angle image. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves high-resolution forward-looking imaging while significantly reducing the volume of echo data.