DETECTION OF FAINT TARGETS USING A NOVEL 3-D FULLY POLARIZED SAR

VEXCEL CORPORATION PROPOSES A PHASE I RESEARCH EFFORT FOR THE ANALYSIS AND PRELIMINARY SIMULATION OF A NOVEL METHOD FOR DETECTING HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER LINES AND TOWERS IN UNFRIENDLY REGIONS USING MULTIPLE FLIGHT-PATH SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR) IMAGERY. THE PROPOSED METHOD CONSISTS OF ADAPTING THE ESPIRIT ALGORITHM FOR ESTIMATION OF ELEVATION ANGLE-OF-ARRIVAL TO SYNTHESIZE A 2-D ARRAY FROM THE MULTIPLE FLIGHT PATHS. THIS APPROACH ALLOWS THE COHERENT ADDITION OF THE LOW RADAR CROSS-SECTION POWER LINE SIGNATURES TO ACCUMULATE COHERENTLY IN A RANGE BIN NOT CONTAINING THE BACKGROUND. THEREFORE, THE DETECTION PROBLEM HAS BEEN EFFECTIVELY TRANFORMED FROM A VERY DIFFICULT SIGNAL/CLUTTER PROBLEM INTO A SOLUBLE SIGNAL/NOICE PROBLEM. IN ADDITION, THE USE OF POLARIMETRIC QUADPOLE SAR DATA WILL SELECTIVELY ENHANCE THE POWER LINE AND TOWER SIGNATURES. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - AUTOMATED TERRAIN MAPPING, NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, TARGET DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION. KEY WORDS - ELEVATION ANGLE-OF-ARRIVAL, RADAR POLARIMETRY, TARGET DETECTION, TARGET IDENTIFICATION