Multichannel/Multistatic Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar

Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) has proven capabilities for non-cooperative target recognition (NCTR) applications. This sensing imaging technique has been able to provide operational information in a robust manner. Multichannel/Multistatic Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar systems are of emerging interest as they can exploit spatial diversity, enabling improved performance and new applications. Such systems differ from typical monostatic ISAR systems through consisting of multiple spatially diverse transmitter and receiver sites. Due to this spatial diversity, these systems present challenges in managing their operation as well as in usefully combining the multiple sources of information to give an output to the radar operator. The research presented in this work outlines a variety of methods for utilizing ISAR images in the presence of multiple looks. Specific accomplishments include: the development of a method for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of moving targets. This method is based on the use of a dual interferometric ISAR system. The interferometric phases measured from two orthogonal baselines are used to jointly estimate the target's effective rotation vector and the heights of the scattering centres with respect to the image plane. Then, this approach is extended for a bistatic case, for a squinted target geometry and in the case of non-orthogonal baselines. Then, the development of image fusion rules to integrate data from spatially distributed independent ISAR systems is studied and carried out. Two different methods are presented: incoherent and coherent fusion. The technique to be chosen depends on the overlapping of the view angles from each sensor of the multistatic radar network. The algorithms are tested on a variety of simulated and real datasets.