Wide bandwidth, millimeter-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging

Abstract

The combination of wide bandwidth W-band inverse synthetic aperture radar imagery and high-fidelity numerical simulations has been used to identify distinguishing signatures from simple metallic and dielectric targets. Targets are located with millimeter-scale accuracy using super-resolution techniques. Radon transform reconstructions of the returns from rotated targets approached the image quality of the complete data set in a fraction of the time by sampling as few as 10 angles. The limitations of shooting-and-bouncing ray simulations at high frequencies are illustrated through a critical comparison of their predictions with the measured data and the method of moments simulations, indicating the importance of accurately capturing the obfuscating role played by multipath interference in complex targets.