The effect of target height on SAR performance, side-looking and forward-looking modes

Range relative Doppler processing (RRDP) is implemented to simulate the effect of target height on SAR (synthetic aperture radar) performance, for both side-looking and forward-looking modes. For this purpose, a four-dimensional third-order Taylor series expansion about incremental time, azimuth and elevation angles, and target height is performed. Examples through computer simulation show that targets with nonzero height are detected with incorrect range and Doppler and that the severity of this degradation worsens as the forward-looking angle increases. The results presented provide designers of SAR and millimeter-wave seekers with a perception of the range/Doppler versus target height relationship.<>