Capabilities of dual-frequency millimeter wave SAR with monopulse processing for ground moving target indication

Abstract

Ground moving target indication (GMTI) for syn- thetic aperture radar (SAR) provides information on nonstatic objects in radar imagery of a static ground scene. An efficient approach for GMTI is the use of multichannel SAR systems for a space- and time-variant analysis of moving targets. This allows the indication, correction of position displacement, and estimation of radial velocity components of moving targets in a SAR image. All three steps are possible due to a determinable Doppler frequency shift in the radar signal caused by radial target movement. This paper focuses on the millimeter wave (mmW) SAR system MEMPHIS with multichannel amplitude-comparison monopulse data acquisition and the ability to use carrier frequencies of 35 and 94 GHz simultaneously, making it a dual-frequency SAR. This paper includes mmW-specific SAR GMTI considerations, an adaptive algorithm to collect velocity and position information on moving targets with mmW monopulse radar, and a discussion on GMTI blind speed elimination and target velocity ambiguity resolving by dual-frequency SAR. To determine the capabilities of both, system and algorithm, three large-scale experiments with MEMPHIS in different environments are presented.