Millimeter-wave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Data Imaging Based on Terrain Surface Projection

Abstract

Millimeter-wave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has smaller size, lower weight, and higher resolution compared with other bands. Thus, it has become a hot research topic. However, owing to its shorter wavelength, millimeter-wave InSAR data processing requires high-precision measurements of platform motion. For nonideal trajectories, traditional methods face difficulties in echo imaging and interferogram extraction. In addition, existing methods mainly produce SAR images based on plane projection. When the terrain changes abruptly, these methods may cause strong interferometric phase unwrapping and geometric distortion in SAR images. To overcome the abovementioned disadvantages of conventional methods in millimeter-wave InSAR imaging, an approach based on terrain surface projection is proposed. The echoes of different antennas are projected on the same terrain surface space for data imaging and interferogram extraction. In addition, the relation between terrain elevation and interferometric phase is derived. Simulations and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method; furthermore, the proposed approach improves the precision of interferometric phase extraction in complex motion conditions, while minimizing geometric distortion and phase wrapping in rough terrain, which is more conducive to terrain description and elevation inversion.