SAR image target extraction based on 2-D leapfrog filtering

This paper reveals that the classical R-D imaging algorithm can not remove the strong noise and extract the objects in R-D imaging image by their range and azimuth matching filters. Though 2-D DCT-DWT or 2-D DFT-DWT can be a 2-D filtering for the issue, while the algorithms need huge computation amount, they can not process SAR image real time. To solve the problem, this paper develops a new 2-D filtering algorithm based on 2-D leapfrog filter, which is good at extracting the SAR image target clearly. The 2-D recursive filter is of few multiplications for SAR image each pixel to realize fast and real-time image filtering. Practical experiments of SAR image processing have shown that the approach and algorithm are correct, effective and pragmatical.