The Open-Source Framework for 3D Synthetic Aperture Radar Simulation

Abstract

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) simulation is widely used for system design, processing techniques development, and mission planning. However, there is no readily available and free framework for SAR raw signal simulation, and many teams and organizations struggle with developing their own simulator from scratch, repeating work that others have done earlier. This work's purpose is to create a simple, open-source SAR simulation framework that can be used for many purposes and is available for free to everyone. It is a ready tool for SAR processing techniques verification, and thanks to its opensource nature, it fosters collaboration between scientists, both on the simulation and the tool development. Moreover, as the simulation's underlying mathematics is described in detail in this paper, it may serve as a handbook for the radar's simulation. The simulator was prepared as a stand-alone, multiplatform software working in the Matlab/Octave environment. It is available in an online software repository that allows others to contribute to the original code or to create forks of it. The simulator supports monostatic, bistatic, and multistatic configurations with shadowing. The surface model includes roughness using the modified Phong model, transparency, and complex reflectivity. The antenna pattern is defined with a general two-dimensional model. The paper is concluded with the simulator's demonstrations, including antenna pattern, Doppler shift, and various surface parameters. It is expected that this simulator will be widely adopted and improved by many collaborators.

Bounding Volume Hierarchy-Assisted Fast SAR Image Simulation Based on Spatial Segmentation

“…Dong et al used a combination of physical optics (POs), geometrical optics (GOs), and the physical theory of diffraction (PTD) for target backscatter field calculations, which were then combined with the frequency domain pulsed coherence method for echo simulation and imaging processing [12]. Drozdowicz open-sourced a basic echo-based SAR image simulation infrastructure designed to facilitate collaboration on SAR image simulator development among interested researchers [13]. Chiang et al combined POs and GOs to carry out the target multiple backscatter field calculation, combined them with the frequency domain echo model to generate the original echo signals, acquired the tank SAR data set by focusing imaging processing, and achieved better simulation results [14].…”

Fast SAR Image Simulation Based on Echo Matrix Cell Algorithm Including Multiple Scattering

“…Wu et al proposed a novel echo-based SAR image simulation method that comprehensively utilizes both SAR effective view and ray tracing algorithms, and improved the fidelity of simulated SAR images [25]. Drozdowicz et al improved the illumination model according to the working mechanism of SAR and proposed an open-source SAR echo simulator in combination with ray tracing algorithm, which achieved better simulation results [26]. Wei et al combined the time-domain shot and bounced ray (TD-SBR) method with timedomain physical optics (TD-PO) to develop a high-frequency simulation tool that can quickly obtain backscatter echo from large complex targets [27].…”