Time reversal SAR technique for imaging extended target shielded from line-of-sight

In this paper, we present a novel time reversal SAR technique for imaging extended targets completely shielded from line of sight. The secondary scattering between the cluttered environment and the shielded targets results in ghost images in the difference SAR imaging (with and without targets) and can be significantly enhanced by a developed time reversal technique. By matching the obtained ghost image with forward FDTD simulations using the scatters obtained from SAR imaging, a complete image of the extended target can be reconstructed with relatively high confidence. With a highly cluttered environment that generates sufficient secondary scattering, the ghost images are distinctively different for distinctively different extended targets, yielding a high distinction correlation in the forward matching process.