Compensation of Sensor Movements in Short-Range FMCW Synthetic Aperture Radar Algorithms.

Radar imaging using the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) principle is a common method to obtain information about e.g., the surface of a target. However, most image formation algorithms for such systems assume (quasi-)static measurements. This may lead to errors in the processed images if the sensor is moving during the measurement process. This is especially the case for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW)-based sensors since the signal duration is longer than in a pulsed system and the achievable bandwidth is much larger and introduces additional challenges. Motion compensation in the context of radar imaging is usually related to the correction of deviations from an ideal trajectory. In contrast, this article presents a method to take the sensor movement during a single FMCW ramp into account and therefore addresses the effects caused by a continuous path during the transmit/receive process. Hence, faster movement can be achieved during the scanning of the synthetic aperture without being bound by stop-and-go approximations. In addition, it will be shown that the algorithm is suitable to reduce systematic errors due to aliasing caused by spatial sampling below the Nyquist rate. For this purpose, this article presents simulations and measurement results, obtained by an ultrawideband $D$ -band FMCW radar operating between 122 and 170 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]