X-band experimental airborne radar - Phase II: synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indication

Defence Research and Development Canada, Ottawa, has completed Phase II of a multifunction X-band wideband experimental airborne radar. The system consists of a high average power transmitter, a digital waveform generator, two wideband 8-bit channels for synthetic aperture radar (SAR)/inverse synthetic aperture radar and two narrowband 14-bit channels for ground moving target indication (GMTI). The reflector antenna uses a novel multi-mode feedhorn to derive two phase centres displaced in azimuth. The radar was designed to support research into SAR imaging of fixed and moving targets (ocean and land), time-frequency analysis of moving targets, clutter suppression for GMTI radar and ocean surveillance for small and large target detection. Highlights of the data collection capabilities, include a swath width 16 K points wide in the single-channel SAR modes, 8 K points wide in the two-channel integrated SAR-GMTI modes and 4 K points wide in the GMTI surveillance modes. The architecture of the radar, its modes of operation with respect to the SAR and GMTI data collection capabilities, the MATLAB-based GMTI processor, and the real-time kernel developed for the SAR processor are discussed; and results from its high resolution stripmap, landspot, seaspot and GMTI modes are presented from trials in July 2003.