skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A novel polar format algorithm for SAR images utilizing post azimuth transform interpolation.

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/876306· OSTI ID:876306

SAR phase history data represents a polar array in the Fourier space of a scene being imaged. Polar Format processing is about reformatting the collected SAR data to a Cartesian data location array for efficient processing and image formation. In a real-time system, this reformatting or ''re-gridding'' operation is the most processing intensive, consuming the majority of the processing time; it also is a source of error in the final image. Therefore, any effort to reduce processing time while not degrading image quality is valued. What is proposed in this document is a new way of implementing real-time polar-format processing through a variation on the traditional interpolation/2-D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm. The proposed change is based upon the frequency scaling property of the Fourier Transform, which allows a post azimuth FFT interpolation. A post azimuth processing interpolation provides overall benefits to image quality and potentially more efficient implementation of the polar format image formation process.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
876306
Report Number(s):
SAND2005-5510; TRN: US200606%%69
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English