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

Abstract

This paper explores the ground moving target indication (GMTI) capabilities of the German Aerospace Center’s state-of-the-art airborne (F-SAR) and spaceborne (TerraSAR-X) synthetic aperture radars (SARs) when operating over maritime scenarios. The performance of classical dual channel GMTI techniques, such as displaced phase center antenna (DPCA) and along-track interferometry (ATI), as well as the promising adaptive techniques, like extended DPCA (EDPCA) and imaging space-time adaptive processing (ISTAP) have been analyzed on the basis of experimental acquisitions with both sensors. The objective of the paper is to highlight the limitations and challenges to be considered when processing real, multichannel GMTI data from pioneering SAR sensors for maritime surveillance. Different calibration or channel balancing strategies, on the basis of the digital balancing (DB) method, are studied, considering their impact on SAR-GMTI performance. An adaptive SAR processor, accounting for target kinematics and based on a matched filter bank (MFB) approach, is integrated in the SAR-GMTI processing chain in order to retrieve refocused images of the moving vessels.