Ultrahigh-Resolution Autofocusing for Squint Airborne SAR Based on Cascaded MD-PGA

Squint ultrahigh-resolution (UHR) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) generally uses the extended Omega-K algorithm (EOK) for range cell migration correction (RCMC). However, the extra range migration and defocusing (ERMD) will be introduced by the EOK when there are motion errors. This problem will be severe as the squint angle increases, which may sharply reduce the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and lead to the failure of the existing autofocus methods. In this letter, a UHR autofocus algorithm based on cascaded map-drift (MD)-PGA is proposed. The MD is used for the rough estimation to improve the SNR and the phase gradient algorithm (PGA) is used to accurately estimate the residual error based on a relatively high SNR. The new algorithm combines the advantages of MD and PGA, which can solve the problem of severe defocusing. The processing of airborne real data validates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.