A Performance Evaluation of SAR-GMTI Missions for Maritime Applications

Abstract

Abstract-This paper proposes a new optimized multichannel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) configuration, based on receiving antennas with non-uniformly displaced phase centers, intended for ground moving target indication (GMTI) applications over maritime scenarios. This system is compared with current SAR missions, such as TerraSAR-X (TSX) or TanDEM-X (TDX). The GMTI capabilities of the different configurations are analyzed in a two-level performance approach. First, an intensive numerical simulation evaluation, based on Monte Carlo (MC) trials, is carried out in order to characterize the probabilities of detection under different system parameters as well as scenario conditions. Different GMTI techniques, displaced phase center antenna (DPCA), along-track interferometry (ATI) and extended displaced phase center antenna (EDPCA), are assessed. In a second step, synthetic simulated SAR data, obtained in a study case scenario, is used to demonstrate the potential improvement of the proposed multichannel configuration compared to current SAR missions, providing subclutter visibility for maritime surveillance of small and slowly moving boats.Index Terms-Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), ground moving target indication (GMTI), displaced phase center antenna (DPCA), along-track interferometry (ATI), extended DPCA (ED-PCA), constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, SAR raw data simulation.

Moving Target Focusing in SAR Image With Known Normalized Relative Speed

“…With the available raw data, we can easily focus the moving target by using the relationship (8). Hence, the raw data is first transformed to the frequency domain by a 2-D Fourier transform.…”

“…The wave number k x is now defined by where γ = 0.9553 in this case. The change of variable from ω to k ρ relies on the relationship (8). The data after the interpolation is scaled with the factor and multiplied with the exponential term given in (10).…”

“…A simulated ground moving target has been used to illustrate the proposal. A similar approach is introduced recently in [8], [9] where the data has been adaptively refocused using the matched filter bank approach jointly with Range Doppler.…”

An Airborne Radar Sensor for Maritime and Ground Surveillance and Reconnaissance—Algorithmic Issues and Exemplary Results

“…In coastal areas, even for a maritime surveillance system, the classical SAR and GMTI modes are very useful for imaging the infrastructures along the coastlines and within harbors. Moreover, the applicability of SAR-GMTI techniques to maritime scenarios was recently demonstrated in [14]. The SmartRadar pod system has several advantages with regard to implementing such different radar mode types, especially due to its active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna, the wide overall bandwidth, several receive channels, and a very flexible and configurable core electronics (refer to Table I and to [8] for technical details).…”

Multichannel SAR-GMTI in Maritime Scenarios With F-SAR and TerraSAR-X Sensors

“…The operation of spaceborne SAR-GMTI has been widely evaluated for road traffic monitoring [8]- [10]; and a lot of effort has been devoted to the analysis and definition of new processing strategies and algorithms [11]- [14]. Nevertheless, multichannel SAR-GMTI is not yet being extensively employed in the maritime surveillance field for vessel detection; but some preliminary studies have shown its potential capability [15]- [19].…”