Implementation of a SAR Demonstrator for Automotive Imaging

To fulfil the need for finer resolution automotive radar imaging, in this paper, a SAR demonstrator and processing algorithm at 77 GHz are shown which represent a realistic low cost implementation for automotive applications. In the measurement setup section, the demonstrator is described along with how the strict requirements of synchronous radar measurements and trajectory information are fulfiled. A processing algorithm is also presented that is modelled for automotive applications, such that the measurements are processed in blocks, which represent sub-apertures, as they become available from the radar. This results in a faster processing time. Additionally the effect of the missing signals in azimuth, which occur because of hardware restrictions, is clarified and minimised using compressed sensing by recovering the missing signals. To verify the results delivered from the developed algorithm, the processed images are compared with those obtained from the time domain backprojection algorithm and the results were found to be in good agreement.