Alias-free processing of P-3 data

This paper is concerned with multidimensional signal processing and image formation with FOliage PENetrating (FOPEN) airborne radar data which were collected by a Navy P-3 ultra wideband (UWB) radar in 1995 [Raw]. A commonly-used assumption for the processing of the P-3 data is that the beamwidth angle of the radar is limited to 35 degrees [Bes], [Goo]; provided that this assumption is valid, the PRF of the P-3 SAR system yields alias-free data in the slow-time Doppler domain. However, controlled measurements with the P-3 radar have indicated a beamwidth which exceeds 35 degrees [Raw]. In this paper, we examine a method for processing of the P-3 data in which the incorrect assumption that its radar beamwidth angle is limited to 35 degrees is not imposed. In this approach, a SAR processing scheme which enables the user to extract the SAR signature of a specific target area (digital spotlighting) is used to ensure that the resultant reconstructed SAR image is not aliased [S94], [S95], [S99]. The images which are formed via this method with 8192 pulses are shown to be superior in quality to the images which are formed via the conventional P-3 processor with 16386 pulses which was developed at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory [Bes]. In the presentation, we also introduce a method for converting the P-3 deramped data into its alias-free baseband echoed data; the signature of the Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) signals in the two-dimensional spectral domain of the resultant data is examined.