Efficient Clutter and Noise Filtering for Improved ISAR Imaging

Abstract:
One crucial step and prerequisite for generating high-resolution range profiles (HRRPs) and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) images of non-cooperative moving targets is the alignment of the successively acquired range profiles. Especially under low signal-to-clutter plus noise ratio (SCNR) the range alignment performance deteriorates and may prevent the generation of useful HRRPs and ISAR images at all. In the paper a novel method for filtering clutter and noise in the range-compressed radar data prior to range profile alignment is introduced and discussed. The filtering improves the range alignment and subsequently the quality of the HRRPs and ISAR images. Simulations and real X-band airborne radar data acquired with DLR’s F-SAR system are used for demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed method.