radar imaging: anindustrial pointofview. fromthe ... · synthetic aperture radar”, ......

Alfonso FARINA(FREng, FIET, FIEEE, EURASIP Fellow

Engineering Director of Large Systems Business Unit, SELEX Sistemi Integrati)

Taormina, 21 June 2011GTTI - Gruppo Telecomunicazioni e Tecnologie dell'Informazione

Hot topics in Radar Signal Processing

Radar imaging:

an industrial point of view.

From the beginning to its

applications to large systems

2

©2011 SELEX Sistemi Integrati

Outline

� SAR History o SAR history (from 1951 - Carl Wiley)

o FFT based focusing algorithms

o Harmonic analyzer

o Tilted plane optical SAR processor (1970)

o SeaSAT (1978)

� SAR in Seleniao ARTS-IP (1985) - Selenia

o LABSAR(1990) - Alenia

o Multiresolution and multiband SAR fusion

o SAR ECCM

o ISAR in Alenia Marconi Systems (2005)

� SAR in Finmeccanicao X-SAR in Alenia Spazio (1994)

o COSMO-SkyMed

� SAR in large systemso SELEX Sistemi Integrati in Finmeccanica – new mission

o Counter-piracy system: an example of large system

o Multi-resolution imaging for wide-area surveillance

� Conclusions

3


SAR history

S.W. McCandless, B.D. Huxtable, “Fundamentals of

Synthetic Aperture Radar”, Applied Technology

Institute, 2004

The Pioneer Award of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society was

given to Carl Wiley in 1985 for his work on synthetic aperture radar.

The original concept of

SAR was first described by

Carl Wiley of Goodyear

Aircraft Company in 1951.

“I had the luck to conceive of the basic idea, which I

called Doppler Beam Sharpening (DBS), rather than

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Like all signal

processing, there is a dual theory. One is a frequency-

domain explanation. This is Doppler Beam Sharpening. If

one prefers, one can analyze the system in the time

domain instead. This is SAR. The equipment remains the

same–just the explanation changes.”

4


FFT based focusing algorithms

From: M. T. Heideman, D. H. Johnson and C. S. Burrus, “Gauss and the

history of the fast Fourier transform”, IEEE ASSP Magazine, Oct 1984

Carl Friedrich Gauss Francesco Carlini

Chirp scaling

algorithmωωωω-k algorithm

All processing is done in

the 2-D frequency domain

From: I. Cumming, “Perspectives on SAR Processing”,

University of British Columbia, Oct. 2007

Today done by digital

processing

5


Harmonic analyzer

In 1894, German mathematician Olaus Henrici designed a harmonic analyzer

for determining the harmonic components of complex sound waves such as

those from musical instruments. The device employed several pulleys and glass

spheres connected to measuring dials that gave the phase and amplitudes of

10 Fourier harmonic components.

6


Photo provided by Dr. Dale Ausherman of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.

Tilted plane optical SAR processor

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Spaceborne SAR

From: S.W. McCandless, C.R. Jackson, “Principles of Synthetic Aperture Radar”,

Chapter 1 of “SAR Marine Users Manual”, NOAA, 2004, p.11.

……Russian Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems, developed by Oleg

Rzhiga's team at the Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, were installed

on unmanned Almaz space stations. Two of the 19-ton "Almaz-T" satellites were

deployed, as Kosmos-1870 in 1987 and Almaz-1 in 1991.

From: Aviation Week, Feb. 26, 1979

First Digital SEASAT Image

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SAR in Selenia / Alenia

1985 ARTS-IP

1988-1992 LABSAR

1992-1995 SAR on RPV

1992-1995 SAR interferometry

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ARTS-IP in Selenia

E. CHIARUCCI, A. FARINA, F. MARCOZ

“The ARTS-IP research programme. A European long-term approach to remote sensing”. Proc. of Int. Society for Photogrammetry and

Remote Sensing-Commission II, Symposium ISPRS, pp. 345-361, Baltimore, Maryland, May 26-30, 1986.

ARTS-IP: Adaptive Real Time Strategies for Image Processing

10


Some milestones in Selenia

• First SAR image from data acquired

over Calabria (Dec 1987)

• Processing of SAR data acquired over

Calabria and Pantelleria (1988)

• Maestro 1 data acquisition campaign

(Polarimetric SAR data) 1989

• Point scatterer data simulator (1988)

• RAW scene simulator (1990)

• SAR interferometric data simulator

(1991)

• Fringes group with phase unwrapping

(Feb 1992)

• Interferometric DEM processing (Sept.

1992)

Wrapped interferometric phase obtained from the interferometry

of a pair of ERS-1 SAR images of a mountainous region of

Sardinia, Italy (gray-level representation).

Reconstructed elevation of the scene corresponding to the

wrapped phase of the above figure as a function of the azimuth

and slant range coordinates (shaded perspective view).

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LABSAR in Alenia

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Multiresolution and multiband SAR fusion

Fused @4m resolution

AIRSAR @(6.7m x 18.7m) AIRSAR @(13.3m x 18.7m) SIR-C@(25m x 25m)

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco Bay

Adapted from: G.Simone, F.C.Morabito, A.Farina,

“Radar Image Fusion by Multiscale Kalman Filtering”,

Fusion 2000, Paris, France

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SAR ECCM (Electronic Counter-CounterMeasures)

No jammer Main beam

jammer

ERS1 image –Catalunya

ERS1 image –Catalunya

• The threats to a SAR: barrage jamming, spot jamming, random pulse jamming,

and repeater jamming.

• The effect of a wideband noise-like interference: mask the scene visible in the

imaged area with a high uniform noise level.

• The use of antenna nulling techniques to cancel the effects of noise-like

interferences over the collected SAR data.

From: A. Farina, “Electronic Counter-Countermeasures”, chapter 24 in M.I. Skolnik, “Radar Handbook – 3rd ed, 2008.”

M. Sedehi, D. Cristallini, J. Marini, P. Lombardo, “Impact of an electromagnetic interference on imaging capability of a Synthetic Aperture Radar”, 2007.

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Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) is a technique to generate a two-dimensional high

resolution image of a target. ISAR technology utilizes the movement of the target rather

than of the emitter to generate the synthetic aperture.

ISAR in Alenia Marconi Systems

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SAR in Finmeccanica

• Airborne SAR at SELEX Galileo

• Spaceborne SAR at T-Alenia Space

- PicoSAR equipment and images

- GRIFO-M installed on Dassault Mirage III

With permission

SIR-C/X-SAR

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X-SAR in Alenia Spazio

In 1994, two missions known as SIR-C/X-SAR (Shuttle Imaging

Radar-C/X-Synthetic Aperture Radar), designed and carried on by

NASA, DLR and ASI (the American, German and Italian Space

Agencies) took place in April and October.

The SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) mission has

been an international research effort that obtained digital elevation

models on a near-global scale.

SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew on

board the Space Shuttle Endeavour, based on the older

Spaceborne SIR-C/X-SAR

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COSMO-SkyMed

COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation)

is an Earth observation satellite system funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Ministry

of Defence and conducted by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), intended for both defence and

civilian uses.

The space segment of the system includes four medium-sized satellites (orbiting at an

altitude of 619 km) equipped with SAR sensors (in X band) with global coverage of the planet.

Observations of an area of interest will be repeated several times a day in all-weather

conditions. The imagery will be applied to defence and security assurance in Italy and other

countries, seismic hazard analysis, environmental disaster monitoring, and agricultural

mapping.

The 1st satellite was launched on June 2007.

2nd on December 2007.

3rd on October 2008.

4th on November 2010.

http://www.telespazio.it/GalleryMatera.html

Etna

The Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation is now

fully operational and complete with the arrival of the

system’s fourth satellite in its final orbit position.

Rome, Italy

Courtesy of:

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Mount Etna as seen from COSMO-SkyMed

http://www.telespazio.it/GalleryMatera.html

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Fukushima as seen from COSMO-SkyMed

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SELEX Sistemi Integrati within the

Finmeccanica’s Galaxy for Large Systems

Belongs to a multi-domain and

multi - platform Group

Leads the core Capabilities and

Technologies within the Large

Systems Domain: Sensors,

Command and Control, Integration

FINMECCANICA assigned to SELEX Sistemi Integrati the Prime Contractor and Architect mission role

SELEX Sistemi Integrati key points:

AnsaldoBreda

Ansaldo STS

Ansaldo Energia

SELEX Galileo

Telespazio

SELEX Sistemi Integrati

Thales Alenia Space

AgustaWestland

WASS

MBDA

Oto Melara

SELEX Service

Management

Alenia Aeronautica

DRS Technologies

SELEX Elsag

A Large System is a group of operators and systems capable of gathering and distributing information, enabling

collaboration between the components, sharing the evaluation of situations, and automatically sychronising actions.

A Large System has greater capacity and capability than the sum of individual parts, and its effectiveness increases

as a result of coordinating and rationalising resources already present, while introducing new enabling technologies.

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Counter-piracy system:

an example of large system

Detection

of steady

mother-

ship of

pirates is

possible,

Mother-ship of pirates

G. Franceschetti, M. Grossi, “Homeland Security Facets: Threats. Countermeasures, and the Privacy Issue ”, Artech House, 2010

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COP: Common Operational PictureCOPCOP

resolution

tim

e

40 m

30 m

25 m

5 m

cars

cars

person

40 m

30 m

25 m

5 m

40 m

30 m

25 m

5 m

cars

cars

person

Fusion Engine®SELEX Sistemi Integrati

Multi-resolution imaging

for wide-area surveillance

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Conclusions

How about the future of SAR ?

• On March 2011 the Italian Government funded the “Cosmo-Skymed II

generation” program for two new SAR satellites*.

• The Jet Propulsion Lab has come up with a novel technique called

SweepSAR for generating a wide strip map SAR from space which

requires 1/6th in power that would be needed if a conventional ScanSAR

were used.

• Joint SIGINT and SAR processing.

• Compressive sensing.

Huge amount of data to

efficiently process to extract

useful information

(*) http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2011-03-24/libera-cipe-miliardi-progetti-063906_PRN.shtml

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Acknowledgments

• Francesco Vinelli, SELEX Sistemi Integrati, Italy

• Matteo Sedehi, SELEX Sistemi Integrati, Italy

• Tiziano Volpi, SELEX Sistemi Integrati, Italy

• Professor Hugh Griffiths, University College London, UK

• Dr. Dale Ausherman, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, USA

• Federica Mastracci, e-GEOS, Italy

• Dr. Eli Brookner, Raytheon, USA

• Andrea Torre, Thales Alenia Space, Italy

radar imaging: anindustrial pointofview. fromthe ... · synthetic aperture radar”, ......

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