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Air Force Institute of Technology

Synthetic aperture radar

Electrical and Electronics

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Using Shadows To Detect Targets In Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery, Brian P. Donnell Mar 2009

Using Shadows To Detect Targets In Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery, Brian P. Donnell

Theses and Dissertations

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can generate high resolution imagery of re- mote scenes by combining the phase information of multiple radar pulses along a given path. SAR based Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) has the advantage over optical ISR that it can provide usable imagery in adverse weather or nighttime conditions. Certain radar frequencies can even result in foliage or limited soil penetration, enabling imagery to be created of objects of interest that would otherwise be hidden from optical surveillance systems. This thesis demonstrates the capability of locating stationary targets of interest based on the locations of their shadows and …


Cross Range Smear Characterization In Xpatch Isar Images, Peter E. Muend Mar 2004

Cross Range Smear Characterization In Xpatch Isar Images, Peter E. Muend

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates a cross range smear phenomenon seen in far field, frequency domain Xpatch calculations. The phenomenon is very subtle, manifesting itself in 2-D ISAR images as a low-level scatterer response smeared in the cross range direction. This cross range smear occurs only using complex target models with certain characteristics. It is also a mathematical construct, not occurring in physical SAR systems. Using a carefully constructed scattering target set, Xpatch-generated ISAR images are used to characterize cross range smear in terms of its input parameters. The characterization is done as a DOE-based polynomial approximation to the observed smear levels. …


Application Of The Finite Element Method To The Scattering Of A Two-Dimensional, Semi-Infinite Periodic Structure, Perry N. Villanueva Mar 1999

Application Of The Finite Element Method To The Scattering Of A Two-Dimensional, Semi-Infinite Periodic Structure, Perry N. Villanueva

Theses and Dissertations

Infinite periodic structures have been studied heavily because of their efficient filtering capabilities. They generally exhibit sharp frequency roll-offs at the frequency band of interest. In the RF region of the electromagnetic spectrum, periodic structures find applications such as radomes and photonic bandgap materials. Most studies have been done with infinitely periodic arrays because it is convenient to collapse an infinite array into one representative period using Floquet Analysis. Truncating an infinite array introduces an edge and invalidates Floquet analysis over the entire array. This thesis formulates a Finite Element Method (FEM) solution of a semi-infinite periodic array consisting of …


Investigation Of Ground Target Detection Methods In Fully Polarimetric Wide Angle Synthetic Aperture Radar Images, Wayne B. Mclaggan Mar 1995

Investigation Of Ground Target Detection Methods In Fully Polarimetric Wide Angle Synthetic Aperture Radar Images, Wayne B. Mclaggan

Theses and Dissertations

Target detection is a high priority of the Air Force for the purpose of reconnaissance and bombardment. This research investigates and develops methods to distinguish ground targets from clutter (i.e. foliage, landscape etc.) in Wide Angle Synthetic Aperture Radar (WASAR) images. WASAR uses multiple aspect angle SAR images of the same target scene. The WASAR data was generated from a pre-release software package (XPATCH-ES) provided by the sponsor (WL-AARA). A statistical analysis and feature extraction is performed on the XPATCH-ES data. Polarimetric and wide angle covariance matrices are estimated and analyzed. From an analysis of the wide angle covariance matrix …