A Novel Phase Calibration Method for Dual-Channel CSAR-GMTI Processing

Displaced phase center array (DPCA) and along-track interferometry (ATI) have been widely used for ground moving target indication (GMTI) in multi-channel circular synthetic aperture radar (CSAR) system. In ideal conditions, these methods can suppress background clutter effectively. However, the nonideal movement of platform may create a nonzero crab angle, which will induce a cross-track baseline offset and affect GMTI processing seriously. This letter analyzes the influence of crab angle on interferometric phase theoretically. Here, we propose a two-step phase calibration method to greatly improve the performance of CSAR-GMTI by eliminating the range-varying phase error. This method is independent of imaging and GMTI processing. Simulated and measured data results verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis and the validity of the proposed method.