Tilt Phenomenon in Bistatic SAR Image

Abstract

The tilt phenomenon or skew in bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images has been known. This can be observed from the SAR image of a point-like scatterer, even with a symmetrical bistatic aperture. This letter explains this phenomenon in bistatic SAR images and shows that the phenomenon depends on the initial and the last positions of the transmitter and receiver platforms. A formula to calculate the tilt angle based on a general bistatic geometry is provided. This formula supports bistatic SAR system design and bistatic image quality measurements.