A new approach to motion estimation for ISAR imaging
Simmons S., Evans R.
This paper presents a new motion estimation algorithm for inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging known as minimum motion error estimation (MMEE). Conventional cross-correlation motion compensation uses the magnitude of the target's range profiles to obtain a coarse estimate of the target's radial motion. This has to be followed by adaptive beamforming phase compensation before a focused ISAR image can be produced. However, MMEE uses the full complex frequency response to estimate the target's radial motion so accurately that no additional phase compensation is required to produce a focussed ISAR image. Even when high noise levels degrade the MMEEs radial motion estimates, errors in the the motion estimates are exact multiples of the wavelength of the radar's centre frequency and the image remains focussed in the cross-range direction. © 1994 IEEE.