An Azimuth Frequency Non-Linear Chirp Scaling (FNCS) Algorithm for TOPS SAR Imaging With High Squint Angle

During the data acquisition of a squint terrain observation by progressive scan (TOPS) synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the steering of the antenna main beam increases the azimuth bandwidth and results in the azimuth signal aliasing in the Doppler domain. Besides, the range curvature and the Doppler frequency modulation (FM) rates after linear range walk correction are azimuth-variant for squint TOPS SAR. These problems may cause some difficulties for the SAR data processing. To deal with the problems, a new imaging algorithm for the squint TOPS SAR is introduced in this paper. After linear range walk correction, the azimuth preprocessing is implemented to achieve the two-dimensional frequency spectrum without aliasing. Then, utilizing a modified chirp scaling algorithm, we complete the range cell migration correction (RCMC) and range compression to the TOPS SAR data without subaperture. Finally, the frequency nonlinear chirp scaling (FNCS) is proposed to correct the variation of the FM rates and the azimuth signal is focused in the Doppler domain via the spectral analysis (SPECAN) method. Both simulation and real data results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.