Experimental studies on circular SAR imaging in clutter using angular correlation function technique

This paper describes a novel approach for three-dimensional (3-D) imaging in a heavy-clutter environment. The proposed approach consists of two techniques. The first calls for the use of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) moving in a circular orbit, whereas the second involves using angular correlation function (ACF) measurement for achieving clutter suppression. To demonstrate the imaging and clutter suppression capabilities of this combined approach (circular-correlation SAR), microwave imaging experiments are conducted at X-band frequencies (7-13 GHz). It is found that in heavy-clutter environments, this combined SAR approach outperforms conventional SAR, resulting in clearer images with enhanced target-to-clutter ratio.