Publications

Typical synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) imaging employs a co-located RADAR transmitter and receiver. Bistatic SAR imaging separates the transmitter and receiver locations. A bistatic SAR configuration allows for the transmitter and receiver(s) to be in a variety of geometric alignments. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) / New Mexico proposed the deployment of a ground-based RADAR receiver. This RADAR receiver was coupled with the capability of digitizing and recording the signal collected. SNL proposed the possibility of creating an image of targets the illuminating SAR observes. This document describes the developed hardware, software, bistatic SAR configuration, and its deployment to test the concept of a ground-based bistatic SAR. In the proof-of-concept experiments herein, the RADAR transmitter will be a commercial SAR satellite and the RADAR receiver will be deployed at ground level, observing and capturing RADAR ground/targets illuminated by the satellite system.

The convolution/back-projection (CBP) algorithm has recently once again been touted as the "gold standard" for spotlight-mode SAR image formation, as it is proclaimed to achieve better image quality than the well-known and often employed polar formatting algorithm (PFA) 1. In addition, it has been suggested that PFA is less flexible than CBP in that PFA can only compute the SAR image on one grid and PFA cannot add or subtract pulses from the imaging process. The argument for CBP acknowledges the computational burden of CBP compared to PFA, but asserts that the increased image accuracy and flexibility of the formation process is warranted, at least in some imaging scenarios. Because CBP can now be sped up by the proper algorithm design, it becomes, according to this line of analysis, the clear algorithm of choice for SAR image formation. In this paper we reject the above conclusion by showing that PFA and CBP achieve the same image quality, and that PFA has complete flexibility, including choice of imaging plane, size of illuminated beam area to be imaged, resolution of the image, and others. We demonstrate these claims via formation of both simulated and real SAR imagery using both algorithms.

Wavefront curvature defocus effects occur in spotlight-mode SAR imagery when reconstructed via the well-known polar-formatting algorithm (PFA) under certain imaging scenarios. These include imaging at close range, using a very low radar center frequency, utilizing high resolution, and/or imaging very large scenes. Wavefront curvature effects arise from the unrealistic assumption of strictly planar wavefronts illuminating the imaged scene. This dissertation presents a method for the correction of wavefront curvature defocus effects under these scenarios, concentrating on the generalized: squint-mode imaging scenario and its computational aspects. This correction is accomplished through an efficient one-dimensional, image domain filter applied as a post-processing step to PF.4. This post-filter, referred to as SVPF, is precalculated from a theoretical derivation of the wavefront curvature effect and varies as a function of scene location. Prior to SVPF, severe restrictions were placed on the imaged scene size in order to avoid defocus effects under these scenarios when using PFA. The SVPF algorithm eliminates the need for scene size restrictions when wavefront curvature effects are present, correcting for wavefront curvature in broadside as well as squinted collection modes while imposing little additional computational penalty for squinted images. This dissertation covers the theoretical development, implementation and analysis of the generalized, squint-mode SVPF algorithm (of which broadside-mode is a special case) and provides examples of its capabilities and limitations as well as offering guidelines for maximizing its computational efficiency. Tradeoffs between the PFA/SVPF combination and other spotlight-mode SAR image formation techniques are discussed with regard to computational burden, image quality, and imaging geometry constraints. It is demonstrated that other methods fail to exhibit a clear computational advantage over polar-formatting in conjunction with SVPF. This research concludes that PFA in conjunction with SVPF provides a computationally efficient spotlight-mode image formation solution that solves the wavefront curvature problem for most standoff distances and patch sizes, regardless of squint, resolution or radar center frequency. Additional advantages are that SVPF is not iterative and has no dependence on the visual contents of the scene: resulting in a deterministic computational complexity which typically adds only thirty percent to the overall image formation time.

Interferometric fringe maps are generated by accurately registering a pair of complex SAR images of the same scene imaged from two very similar geometries, and calculating the phase difference between the two images by averaging over a neighborhood of pixels at each spatial location. The phase difference (fringe) map resulting from this IFSAR operation is then unwrapped and used to calculate the height estimate of the imaged terrain. Although the method used to calculate interferometric fringe maps is well known, it is generally executed in a post-processing mode well after the image pairs have been collected. In that mode of operation, there is little concern about algorithm speed and the method is normally implemented on a single processor machine. This paper describes how the interferometric map generation is implemented on a distributed-memory parallel processing machine. This particular implementation is designed to operate on a 16 node Power-PC platform and to generate interferometric maps in near real-time. The implementation is able to accommodate large translational offsets, along with a slight amount of rotation which may exist between the interferometric pair of images. If the number of pixels in the IFSAR image is large enough, the implementation accomplishes nearly linear speed-up times with the addition of processors.

In the verification technology arena, there is a pressing need for surveillance and monitoring equipment that produces authentic, verifiable records of observed activities. Such a record provides the inspecting party with confidence that observed activities occurred as recorded, without undetected tampering or spoofing having taken place. The secure authenticated video equipment (SAVE) system provides an authenticated series of video images of an observed activity. Being self-contained and portable, it can be installed as a stand-alone surveillance system or used in conjunction with existing monitoring equipment in a non-invasive manner. Security is provided by a tamper-proof camera enclosure containing a private, electronic authentication key. Video data is transferred communication link consisting of a coaxial cable, fiber-optic link or other similar media. A video review station, located remotely from the camera, receives, validates, displays and stores the incoming data. Video data is validated within the review station using a public key, a copy of which is held by authorized panics. This scheme allows the holder of the public key to verify the authenticity of the recorded video data but precludes undetectable modification of the data generated by the tamper-protected private authentication key.