Real-Time High Resolution ISAR Imaging System

Marek Ciesielski

supervisor: Mateusz Malanowski

This paper describes the results of the X-band ground-based FMCW radar demonstrator which was designed as a multichannel system for synchronous signal reception and simultaneous recording of the data from multiple array antenna channels. The demonstrator was designed as a wideband system allowing up to 1.28 GHz of bandwidth transmission. The purpose of the design was to develop a high-resolution system for imaging purposes using inverse synthetic aperture radar techniques (ISAR). Additionally, the demonstrator has been equipped with a real-time processor based on parallel and independent DSP modules implemented using OpenCL which was designed to track and visualize the echoes of the non-cooperative air targets by displaying to the radar operator their current position and Range-Doppler map fragments as in Figure 1. The Paper describes the whole process of the hardware development and effective real-time ISAR processor implementation and also shows the first outdoor measurements with real planes (non-cooperative air targets). An example glider aircraft echo obtained using this system is in Figure 2.