Simulation of Ocean Surface Imaging with PRF Varying HRWS SAR

Traditional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ocean surface simulation is based on uniform sampling in azimuth assuming the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) is constant. However, to achieve High-Resolution Wide-Swath (HRWS) imaging, the variable PRF mode will be applied in the next-generation spaceborne SAR systems such as Tandem-L and NISAR. To study the impact of nonuniform sampling in azimuth on ocean remote sensing, a PRF varying HRWS SAR ocean surface imaging simulator is presented in this paper. Based on the ocean wave spectrum and backscatter model, the PRF-varying radar echo signal from the sea surface is simulated. Then, the raw signal samples are reconstructed and resampled to a uniform grid which will be focused by frequency-domain algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed simulator is verified by simulation results.