ACOUSTO-OPTIC PROCESSOR FOR SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR

PROCESSING OF SAR DATA IN REAL TIME REQUIRES HIGH SPEED COMPUTATION DEVICES CURRENTLY BEYOND THE STATE-OF-THE-ART OF CONVENTIONAL METHODS. DESIRED PROCESSORS MUST ALSO BE SMALL, RUGGED AND LOW POWER TO BE DEPLOYED ON AIRCRAFT. OPTICAL TECHNIQUES CAN SATISFY THESE REQUIREMENTS WITH IMAGINATIVE ARCHITECTURES. THIS PROPOSAL PRESENTS AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR REAL TIME SAR IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION THAT CAN BE FABRICATED FOR IRBORNE APPLICATIONS. THE PROPOSED APPROACH IS A TWO DIMENSIONAL CROSS AMBIGITY FUNCTION PROCESSOR THAT UTILIZES STATE-OF-THE-ART ACOUSTO-OPTIC DEVICES IN AN IN-LINE INTERFEROMETRIC CONFIGURATION. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL BE AN ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION TRADEOFF FOR DESIGNS OPTIMIZED FOR SAR IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION.