| The S&barbelow;ynthetic A&barbelow;perture R&barbelow;adar (SAR) system presently in use on the CP-140 Aurora aircraft is a multi-mode imaging radar designed to provide long range, day-night, all weather surveillance of Canadian coastal regions. One of these modes, the S&barbelow;potlight M&barbelow;ode (SM), uses long synthetic apertures to produce very high resolution images. The SM consists of two sub-modes, one of which is the Spotlight A&barbelow;daptive M&barbelow;ode (AM), (also known as the Sea Spot Mode), optimized to generate images of moving targets at sea.;The use of imaging techniques that would make use of constructive signal strings based on the real-time analysis of the SAR return signal would increase the success rate of obtaining a classifiable image, since the target's transitional and rotational motions are not suitable for imaging at all times.;The overall thesis objective is to investigate means of improving the, cross-range definition of the SAR image, hence increasing the chance of obtaining a classifiable image. Specifically, the following areas are investigated: (a) Collecting the SAR data in a manner that will optimize the possibility of obtaining a good SAR image. (b) Making use of only those SAR return signal portions that display the best potential for cross-range imaging. (c) Carrying out post-imaging manipulations that help improving the quality of the final SAR image. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
