Ground Cartesian Back-Projection Algorithm for High Squint Diving TOPS SAR Imaging

This article presents a fast back-projection (BP) algorithm based on subaperture (SA) image coherent combination in a downsampled Cartesian coordinate grid for high squint diving terrain observation by progressive scans (HSD-TOPS) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ground plane imaging. A two-step spectrum compression (SC) method is proposed to coherently combine the aliasing SA images by exploiting the relationship between the wavenumber and the image frequency. The first-step SC is introduced to align the spectrum support region centers. The second-step SC effectively corrects the space-variant spectrum inclination. The proposed algorithm does not need interpolation in the process of image combination, which ensures the accuracy and the efficiency of the algorithm. Furthermore, the SC method is well-modified to suppress the sidelobes of the focused image. Simulation and measured data processing verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.