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Passive GNSS-based SAR imaging with sub-apertures combination

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Abstract

The passive global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR), known as GNSS-SAR, is a newly developing radar sensing tool in recent decade. However, if the system is characterized by a nonlinear trajectory under wide viewing angles, the azimuth resolution will be negatively affected. To address the issue, this paper proposes a new GNSS-SAR imaging method based on sub-apertures combination. In the proposed method, the full-length aperture is partitioned into several sub-apertures according to the trajectory length, the expected azimuth resolution, and the dwell time on each point scatter. Then within each sub-aperture, to enhance signal-to-noise ratio, imaging is performed based on the algorithm in the first author’s work (Zheng et al. in SIViP 13(8):1549–1557, 2019). Finally, the imaging results in the sub-apertures are consecutively combined to obtain the full GNSS-SAR image. The proposed method was examined via simulation and a field experiment using BeiDou B3I as the signal of opportunity. The results revealed that the proposed method can provide a higher azimuth resolution for non-straight trajectory under multi-scene conditions.

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The data in this paper are collected by authors based on the software defined radio receiver produced by Beijing CNSENS Technology Company.

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Funding

This research was substantially funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Project 42001297 and Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province under Project 2021JJ40631.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Electronic Communication and Electrical Engineering, Changsha University, Changsha, 410022, China

    Yu Zheng, Peidong Zhu, Bo Yang & Peng Wu

  2. College of Electronic Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Zhuxian Zhang & Peng Wu

  3. College of Computer Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Peidong Zhu

Authors
  1. Yu Zheng
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  2. Zhuxian Zhang
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  3. Peidong Zhu
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  4. Bo Yang
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  5. Peng Wu
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Contributions

YZ proposed the method and designed the experimental tests. ZZ helps with experimental tests for data collection. PZ and BY helps with manuscript editing and revisions. PW provided the supports on programming.

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Correspondence to Yu Zheng.

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Zheng, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhu, P. et al. Passive GNSS-based SAR imaging with sub-apertures combination. SIViP 17, 2177–2184 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11760-022-02432-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11760-022-02432-8

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