A Unified Algorithm for the Sliding Spotlight and TOPS Modes Data Processing in Bistatic Configuration of the Geostationary Transmitter with LEO Receivers

Abstract

This paper deals with the imaging problem for sliding spotlight (SS) and terrain observation by progressive scan (TOPS) modes in bistatic configuration of the geostationary (GEO) transmitter with a low earth orbit satellite (LEO) receiver, named GTLR-BiSAR system. A unified imaging algorithm is proposed to process the GTLR-BiSAR data acquired in SS or TOPS modes. Our main contributions include four aspects. Firstly, the imaging geometry of this novel configuration is described in detail. Furthermore, the GTLR-BiSAR signal expressions were deduced in both time and frequency domains. These signal expressions provide great support for the design of processing the algorithm theoretically. Secondly, we present a unified deramping-based technique according to the special geometry of GTLR-BiSAR to overcome the azimuth spectrum aliasing phenomenon, which typically affects SS and TOPS data. Thirdly, the spatial variance of GTLR-BiSAR data were thoroughly analyzed based on the range-Doppler (RD) geolocation functions. On the basis of a former analysis, we put forward the azimuth variance correction strategy and modified the conventional chirp scaling function to solve the range variance problem. Finally, we completed the derivation of the two-dimensional spectrum after the range chirp scaling. On the basis of spectrum expressions, we compensated for the quadratic and residue phase, and the azimuth compression was completed by SPECAN operation. In addition, we provide a flow diagram to visually exhibit the processing procedures. At the end of this paper, the simulation and real data experiment results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.