FMCW ISAR Autofocus Imaging Algorithm for High-speed Maneuvering Targets Based on Image Contrast-based Autofocus and Phase Retrieval

From the perspective of radar signal processing, the pulse-Doppler radar signal model is mostly based on the stop-and-go model due to the short pulse propagation time. Unlike the pulse-Doppler radar, the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar takes a long time in the process of signal transmission to echo reception. During this period, the target cannot be considered to be stationary during the acquisition of the entire sweep echo, so the stop-and-go assumption in the FMCW system is no longer valid, which means that the target’s motion related to the fast time must be taken into account. In the inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging scenario of high-speed maneuvering targets, the frequency offset correction introduced by the target’s motion becomes reasonably complicated that it is difficult to restore the usual ISAR signal processing. In this work, a new method based on phase retrieval and image contrast-based autofocus (ICBA) is proposed to address the complex problem of motion compensation for FMCW ISAR systems. To cope with the fast time-varying characteristics of the phase error and the higher number of phase terms relative to pulsed radars, the proposed algorithm performs fine compensation with higher accuracy, resulting in high-resolution and autofocus imaging. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.