The influence of target acceleration on dual-channel SAR-GMTI (synthetic aperture radar ground moving target indication) data

This thesis investigates the effects of acceleration on the detection and estimation of the velocity of ground moving targets in airborne dual-channel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. The airborne results give an indication of the performance we may expect in an upcoming spaceborne system, the GMTI (ground moving target indication) mode of RADARSAT-2.; Acceleration has (i) an insignificant impact on the detection of moving targets using the displaced phase centre antenna (DPCA) algorithm; (ii) only minor affects on the estimation of across-track velocity (the component perpendicular to the line of flight) using along-track interferometric (ATI) phase and (iii) may significantly bias the estimate of along-track velocity. Estimation of both acceleration and velocity components is not uniquely determined using only two receive channels.; Acceleration also has severe effects on focusing. Time-frequency analysis is used to improve target focusing and to detect the presence of significant target acceleration.