Analysis and identification of continuous line target in SAR echo based on sidelobe features

There are a large number of continuous line targets in the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of land scenes. The traditional SAR processing, which makes the continuous line targets becomes two point targets in traditional SAR images, cannot reveal the complete features of continuous line targets and cause enormous difficulties for SAR image interpretation. This study analyses the reason why traditional SAR processing cannot embody the edge characteristics of continuous line targets based on the sidelobe features of the SAR echo. The authors propose a new identification method based on the difference of the echo amplitude between continuous line target and point targets, which will help to interpret the continuous line targets in SAR images. Numerical simulation experiment based on the classical strip SAR validates the effectiveness of the proposed method.