Motion Compensation in Bistatic Airborne

Common efficient SAR processing algorithms, e.g. Chirp Scaling (CS) and Omega-K are based on nominal operational conditions, that is, rectilinear flight trajectory and constant airborne attitude and forward velocity. Unfortunately, due to atmospheric turbulences and manoeuvring errors, these conditions are often violated in real SAR systems. Airborne sensors, in contrary to spaceborne sensors, always show deviations from the ideal flight track. SAR imaging from such unstable platform requires an accurate measurement of the antenna position during the flight and a modified processing scheme, which takes into account the non-linear movement of the sensor.