VSAR--A VELOCITY SENSITIVE SENSOR FOR OCEAN SURVEILLANCE

WE PRESENT A NOVEL SAR SYSTEM CAPABLE OF RECONSTRUCTING THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE (RANGE, AZIMUTH, AND VELOCITY) FOR A SCENE CONTAINING MOVING SCATTERERS. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM, CALLED VSAR (FOR VELOCITY SAR), MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR THE FIRST TIME TO OBTAIN AN UNDISTORTED HIGH-RESOLUTION VIEW OF THE OCEAN SURFACE. MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT PROVIDES DIRECT OBSERVATION OF OCEAN SURFACE CURRENTS MOVING AT DIFFERENT VELOCITIES, MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO "FILTER OUT" INTERNAL WAVES AND OTHER SURFACE FEATURES INDUCED BY VESSEL MOTION, FROM THE BACKGROUND "CLUTTER" CAUSED BY AMBIENT OCEAN WAVES. A REMARKABLE FEATURE OF THE VSAR IS THAT IT USES THE SAME RADAR HARDWARE AS A CONVENTIONAL SAR, DIFFERING ONLY IN THE SUBSEQUENT PROCESSING. THANKS TO THIS FACT THE TEST AND VALIDATION OF THIS CONCEPT CAN BE PERFORMED USING AVAILABLE RADA HARDWARE, OR EVEN EXISTING SAR DATA. THUS, WE EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THE VSAR CONCEPT ON REAL DATA DURING THE PHASE II PROJECT.