Date: 08/13/2018

Revision: 1

SAR IMAGING TUTORIAL

SAR IMAGING TUTORIAL

PREPARED BY:
MUHAMMET EMIN YANIK
PROF. MURAT TORLAK

Copyright © 2018, The University of Texas at Dallas. All rights reserved.

 Date: 08/13/2018
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SAR IMAGING TUTORIAL

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 2
2. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND RECORDED DATA FORMAT.................................................. 2
2.1. System Configuration ......................................................................................................................... 2
2.2. Recorded Data Format ....................................................................................................................... 4
3. SIMPLIFIED 2-D IMAGING ALGORITHM ......................................................................................... 5
4. RECORDED DATA SCENARIOS ............................................................................................................ 6
4.1. Flat 2-D Target ...................................................................................................................................... 6
4.2. Two Flat 2-D Targets Concealed in Box....................................................................................... 7
4.3. Cascaded Concealed Targets ........................................................................................................... 8
5. PROCESSING SOFTWARE ...................................................................................................................... 9
6. 2-D IMAGING RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 11

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1. INTRODUCTION
In scope of the project, a two-dimensional (2-D) near-field imaging system based on the
combination of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing techniques and the low-cost
system-on-chip millimeter-wave frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radars is
designed. To create a synthetic aperture over the target scene, a two-axis automatic rail
system is built and integrated with Texas Instruments IWR1443 77-GHz millimeter-wave
FMCW radar sensor.
In this tutorial, simplified signal processing techniques for near-field 2-D image formation is
introduced and the specifications of recorded SAR data samples are detailed.

2. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND RECORDED DATA FORMAT

2.1. System Configuration

To reconstruct the 2-D image of the scene, data collection is performed by moving the radar
along a trajectory in 𝑥 − 𝑦 plane, which creates a rectangular grid of measurement points, as
shown in Figure 1. It is assumed that transmitting and receiving antenna are located very
close to each other, then they are represented by the mid-point between them. In the
established (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) Cartesian coordinate system, 𝑥 − axis, 𝑦 − axis, and 𝑧 − axis denote
horizontal, vertical, and range directions, respectively.
y

Transceiver Pair

(x',y z
Dy

(x,y,z=z0)
x

Figure 1 System Configuration

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As illustrated in the measurement configuration, transceiver is at position (𝑥′, 𝑦′, 0) for a
specific measurement instant and a general point on the target placed at the distance 𝑧0 from
the imaging system is at position (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ). The detailed scanning aperture configuration is
shown in Figure 2. Total scan size is 𝐷𝑥 and 𝐷𝑦 in 𝑥 −axis and 𝑦 − axis, respectively, and the
corresponding sampling distance is 𝑑𝑥 and 𝑑𝑦 .
y

Dy

x dy

dx
Dx
Figure 2 Aperture Configuration
Chirp paramaters used at the experiments are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Chirp Parameters

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2.2. Recorded Data Format
The 3-D recorded data cube is shown in Figure 4 and properties are detailed below.

Vertical Points
Figure 4 Recorded Data Cube
Data
rawData3D is an nSample × nVertical × nHorizontal 3-D data matrix. Details of parameters
are given below.
Dimensions
nSample: Number of samples in time domain.
nVertical: Number of sample points in vertical (𝑦) axis.
nHorizontal: Number of sample points in horizontal (𝑥) axis.
Dx: Aperture size of horizontal (𝑥) axis.
Dy: Aperture size of vertical (𝑦) axis.
dx: Sampling distance of horizontal (𝑥) axis.
dy : Sampling distance of vertical (𝑦) axis.
z0 : Target distance.

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3. SIMPLIFIED 2-D IMAGING ALGORITHM
After coinciding the target and aperture coordinates, the 2-D reflectivity image can be
formulated as
−1
𝑓(𝑥, 𝑦) = FT2𝐷 [FT2𝐷 [𝑠(𝑥, 𝑦)]FT2𝐷 [ℎ(𝑥, 𝑦)]]
where FT2𝐷 and FT2𝐷 −1
denote 2-D Fourier and inverse Fourier transform operations over the
𝑥 − 𝑦 plane, 𝑓(𝑥, 𝑦) is 2-D target reflectivity function, 𝑠(𝑥, 𝑦) is the measured radar signals,
and ℎ(𝑥, 𝑦) is the impulse response or the point spread function of the imaging system
calculated for each (𝑥, 𝑦) measurement point as
−𝑗2𝑘√𝑥 2 +𝑦 2 +𝑧02
ℎ(𝑥, 𝑦) = 𝑒
The reconstruction algorithm summarized in Figure 5 does not consider any visibility
condition. Thus, built-in MATLAB 2-D FFT function can be used directly.

Figure 5 Simplified Image Reconstruction Algorithm

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4. RECORDED DATA SCENARIOS
4.1. Flat 2-D Target
The scenario is shown in Figure 6 and properties are detailed below.

Figure 6 Flat 2-D Target Scenario

Data Name
rawData3D_simple2D
Parameters
nSample: 512
nVertical: 100
nHorizontal: 407
Dx: 200 mm (dx: 200/406 mm)
Dy: 198 mm (dy: 2 mm)
z0 : 280 mm

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4.2. Two Flat 2-D Targets Concealed in Box
The scenario is shown in Figure 7 and properties are detailed below.

Figure 7 Two Flat 2-D Targets Concealed in Box Scenario

Data Name
rawData3D_twoConcealed2D
Parameters
nSample: 512
nVertical: 101
nHorizontal: 407
Dx: 200 mm (dx: 200/406 mm)
Dy: 200 mm (dy: 2 mm)
z0 : 260 mm (front side of the box), 320 mm (back side of the box)

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4.3. Cascaded Concealed Targets
The scenario is shown in Figure 8 and properties are detailed below.

Figure 8 Cascaded Concealed Targets Scenario

Data Name
rawData3D_cascadedConcealed
Parameters
nSample: 512
nVertical: 101
nHorizontal: 407
Dx: 200 mm (dx: 200/406 mm)
Dy: 200 mm (dy: 2 mm)
z0 : 250 mm (first target), 340 mm (second target)

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5. PROCESSING SOFTWARE
Main scripts of the processing software are identified in Table 1.

No Script Name Called Script

mainSAR.m
1 2, 3
Definition: Main script that preprocess the data for 2-D
imaging and calls the related sub-scripts for SAR imaging.
createMatchedFilterSimplified.m
2 -
Definition: Script that creates matched filter.
reconstructSARimageMatchedFilterSimplified.m
3 -
Definition: Script that creates the 2-D SAR image
Table 1 Software Scripts

Main Code
This code block preprocess the rawData3D for 2-D imaging and calls other SAR imaging
functions.
Following parameters should be updated based on the scenario.
%% Load rawData3D
dataName = 'rawData3D_simple2D'; % Change only this line
rawData = load(dataName);
rawData = rawData.(dataName);

%% Define parameters, update based on the scenario

nFFTtime = 1024; % Number of FFT points for Range-FFT
z0 = 280e-3; % Range of target (range of corresponding image slice)
dx = 200/406; % Sampling distance at x (horizontal) axis in mm
dy = 2; % Sampling distance at y (vertical) axis in mm
nFFTspace = 1024; % Number of FFT points for Spatial-FFT

Following line calls matched filter creation function.

%% Create Matched Filter
matchedFilter =
createMatchedFilterSimplified(nFFTspace,dx,nFFTspace,dy,z0*1e3);

Following line calls image reconstruction function. imSize parameter can be changed.
%% Create SAR Image
imSize = 200; % Size of image area in mm
sarImage =
reconstructSARimageMatchedFilterSimplified(sarData,matchedFilter,dx,dy,imSize
);

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Matched Filter Function
matchedFilter =
createMatchedFilterSimplified(xPointM,xStepM,yPointM,yStepM,zTarget)
This function creates 2-D matched filter. Input parameters and output are detailed below:

Inputs
xPointM: number of measurement points at x (horizontal) axis, should be
greater than nHorizontal
xStepM: Sampling distance at x (horizontal) axis in mm
yPointM: number of measurement points at y (vertical) axis, should be greater
than nVertical
yStepM: Sampling distance at y (vertical) axis in mm
zTarget: z distance of target in mm

Output
matchedFilter: 2-D yPointM × xPointM matched filter

SAR Imaging Function

sarImage =
reconstructSARimageMatchedFilterSimplified(sarData,matchedFilter,xStepM,yStep
M,xySizeT)
This function creates 2-D SAR image. Input parameters and output are detailed below:

Inputs
sarData: nVertical x nHorizontal 2-D SAR Data
matchedFilter: yPointM × xPointM 2-D matched filter
xStepM: Sampling distance at x (horizontal) axis in mm
yStepM: Sampling distance at y (vertical) axis in mm
xySizeT: z distance of target in mm

Output
sarImage: 2-D SAR Image

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6. 2-D IMAGING RESULTS
2-D imaging result of Flat 2-D Target Scenario is given in Figure 9.

Figure 9 Flat 2-D Target Scenario Image Result

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2-D imaging results of Two Flat 2-D Targets Concealed in Box Scenario are given in Figure
10. Two different slices are obtained by using two different range bins.

Figure 10 Two Flat 2-D Targets Concealed in Box Scenario Image Results (Note: These
are initial results, will be tuned after 3-D imaging)

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2-D imaging results of Cascaded Concealed Targets Scenario are given in Figure 11. Two
different slices are obtained by using two different range bins.

Figure 11 Cascaded Concealed Targets Scenario Image Results (Note: These are initial
results, will be tuned after 3-D imaging)

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