Signal model and moving target detection based on MIMO synthetic aperture radar

Abstract

Recent years, a new SAR concept based on Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) configuration has demonstrated the potential advantages to simultaneously improve the performance of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging and ground moving target detection by utilizing multiple antennas both at transmission and reception. However, the precise signal model, as well as the effect of ground moving target in image domain and the approaches for moving target indication based on MIMO SAR system are rarely investigated. Our paper has three main contributions. Firstly, we present a detailed signal model for stationary scene and moving target based on a colocated MIMO SAR configuration, and analyze the motion effect of the moving target. Secondly, we provide an algorithm of phase compensation to combine the multiple virtual channel data in order to enhance the image quality. Thirdly, an adaptive optimal approach is applied for clutter suppression, then the velocity of the moving target is estimated via Delay-and-Sum (DAS) beamforming approach. Finally, several numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the derivation and analysis in this paper.