A Novel Two-Step Approach of Error Estimation for Stepped-Frequency MIMO-SAR

For a multiple-input and multiple-output synthetic aperture radar, stepped frequency chirps can be used to generate high-resolution range profiles (HRRPs) by using spectrum synthesis. However, the presence of channel phase errors may degrade the performance of HRRP synthesis. This letter presents a channel error estimation method to address this problem. First, to obtain a focused subband image, a range phase adjustment by contrast enhancement algorithm is proposed to estimate inner-channel high-order phase errors. Second, a sidelobe balanced model is established to estimate constant phase error from the relationship between the balanced sidelobe and constant phase; the constant phase error can be directly obtained in an efficient manner. Experimental analysis using real data demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.