Terrain height radar
US5448241A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 26, 1994 |
| Grant date | Sep 5, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 26, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S13/882
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A terrain height radar system and processing method comprising a high resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mounted on an air vehicle and a SAR signal processor containing a signal processing algorithm or method for computing terrain height and radar backscatter power. The system contains motion sensing and navigation functions that also provide data to the signal processor to provide motion compensation. Signal processing algorithms in the method compensate for planar motion of the air vehicle for variations of terrain height in the field of view. The algorithms also compensate for nonplanar motion of the radar, and for scatterers in or very near to a reference plane in the field of view. The algorithms exploit defocusing due to displacement from the reference plane to estimate the terrain height above the reference plane. The algorithm is computationally efficient because the bulk of the radar signal processing is common to both the SAR function and the terrain height estimation function. The following processing method is implemented. The synthetic array radar is operated to produce out-of-plane motion and generating radar return signals derived therefrom. The radar return s…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.