Effect of detection on spatial resolution in synthetic aperture radar imagery and mitigation through upsampling

The complex-valued image output from a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processor possesses full spatial resolution defined by the sensor. Typically, this image is either power detected or magnitude detected before it is subjected to further analysis. This paper consists of the study of the effect of detection on spatial resolution in complex-valued SAR imagery and the mitigation of this effect through upsampling. Furthermore, an algorithm for upsampling focused SAR imagery is presented. The proposed algorithm is general and it is designed to account for deviations from zero-Doppler encountered in the Spotlight imaging mode. It is shown that power and magnitude detections, respectively, degrade the spatial resolution by factors of two and greater. To mitigate this effect, the complex-valued SAR image should be upsampled appropriately. The results are demonstrated on real-world single-look complex SAR imagery from Radarsat-2.