Flight path strategies for 3-D scene reconstruction from bistatic SAR

Proper design of receiver flight paths allows three-dimensional information to be encoded in sensed bistatic SAR phase history data. The authors show how the flight path taken by the receiving platform determines the resolution of nonparametric scene reconstructions and determines the variance of three-dimensional scattering centre location parameter estimates. Based on these relationships, a bistatic SAR data collection strategy can be designed, involving a nonlinear receiver trajectory that allows preservation of three-dimensional scene information.