MIMO-SAR imaging technology for helicopter-borne based on ARC antenna array

The helicopter has wide application foreground in disaster relief owing to its good maneuverability. This paper firstly presents basic principle of MIMO-SAR based on arc antenna array and system configuration in details, establishes the corresponding imaging model and provides a particular antenna configuration of arc antenna array installed on helicopter. Then the responding system resolution theory, sampling criteria and performance parameter of the imaging mode are analyzed and a novel imaging algorithm is developed combined with arc aperture configuration. Finally, during platform takeoff and landing, high resolution image acquisition abilities are demonstrated by numerical simulations. On this basis, a ground based experimental system is constructed, also the feasibility and validity of the proposed mode is demonstrated by mean of experimental data acquisition and processing.