Power-efficient RMA SAR imaging using pipelined Non-uniform Fast Fourier Transform

Range Migration Algorithm (RMA) is one of the most practiced frequency domain based algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image reconstruction. While computationally more intensive than Polar Format Algorithm (PFA), it has superior image reconstruction for large squint angles. Due to the real-time nature of SAR imaging-related tasks, it is desired to have faster hardware implementations of reconstruction algorithms. In this paper we study FPGA-based implementation of the RMA algorithm using a novel pipelined Non-uniform FFT (NuFFT) module that optimizes its operation by exploiting the order in which samples are presented. We demonstrate that we can achieve processing speed of over 600 Msps (Mega Samples per Second) for the implemented RMA algorithm using the FPGA.