Runway imaging from an approaching aircraft using synthetic aperture radar

Abstract

We consider high-resolution radar imaging of an airport runway and environs from an approaching aircraft. Such a radar could provide successful imaging in all-weather conditions. We show the feasibility of using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to achieve high-resolution reflectivity imagery of a runway region. A formula is given specifying the data collection time required to achieve a desired cross-range resolution. Traditional polar-format processing is inaccurate for this scenario because the required plane-wave assumption is violated. We explore two alternative approaches to SAR image formation based on the exact form of the range function: a general SAR inversion algorithm and the w-k algorithm. We present simulation results for these algorithms, based on realistic SAR parameters.