Simulations of optical autofocus algorithms based on PGA in SAIL

The phase perturbations due to propagation effects can destroy the high resolution imagery of Synthetic Aperture Imaging Ladar (SAIL). Some autofocus algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) were developed and implemented. Phase Gradient Algorithm (PGA) is a well-known one for its robustness and wide application, and Phase Curvature Algorithm (PCA) as a similar algorithm expands its applied field to strip map mode. In this paper the autofocus algorithms utilized in optical frequency domain are proposed, including optical PGA and PCA respectively implemented in spotlight and strip map mode. Firstly, the mathematical flows of optical PGA and PCA in SAIL are derived. The simulations model of the airborne SAIL is established, and the compensation simulations of the synthetic aperture laser images corrupted by the random errors, linear phase errors and quadratic phase errors are executed. The compensation effect and the cycle index of the simulation are discussed. The simulation results show that both the two optical autofocus algorithms are effective while the optical PGA outperforms the optical PCA, which keeps consistency with the theory.