An Enhanced Imaging Method for Foliage Penetration Synthetic Aperture Radar

Abstract

FOliage PENetration Synthetic Aperture Radar (FOPEN SAR) is used in low Signal-to-Clutter Ratio (SCR) conditions to detect targets hidden in forests, which introduces difficulties in target detection. In this study, an enhanced imaging method based on the scattering aspect variability of the target is proposed, which improves the SCR of the formed images of hidden targets while maintaining high spatial resolution. In the case of a vehicle target, the dihedral is formed by its main side and the ground. The echo is strongest when the incident electromagnetic wave is along the normal direction of the dihedral. A high-resolution image corresponding to this aspect angle is formed by the proposed enhanced imaging method to increase the SCR of the target and improve the detection performance. Airborne FOPEN SAR data were used to validate the efficiency of the proposed method.