TABLE OF CONTENTS Three high resolution SAR processing algorithms have been presented in the preceding chapters the RDA, CSA, and ?KA. The purpose of this chapter is to compare the properties of these algorithms so that the reader is given some guidance to selecting the most appropriate algorithm.
Sections 11.2 and 11.3 provide a brief recap of the three algorithms first grouped by algorithm, then grouped by the main processing functions such as azimuth compression, RCMC, and SRC. This involves some repetition, but provides a convenient reference. Section 11.4 quantifies the main errors in each algorithm, using satellite and airborne systems as examples. Section 11.5 gives a comparison in terms of the number of arithmetic operations for a typical processing block size. Finally, Section 11.7 summarizes the pros and cons of each algorithm and gives a few guidelines to help the reader select a suitable algorithm for their application.
The main operations and features of the RDA, CSA, and ?KA are summarized in this section.
The main features of the RDA are to perform RCMC in the range Doppler domain and to limit all operations to one dimension at a time. Radar scatterers that have the same slant range of closest approach have a common locus of energy after transformation to the range Doppler domain. Processing efficiency results because one RCMC operation achieves the correction of a whole family of targets within an azimuth processing block.
