INS/GPS Integrated Smoothing Algorithm for Synthetic Aperture Radar Motion Compensation Using an Extended Kalman Filter with a Position Damping Loop

In this study, we propose a real time inertial navigation system/global positioning system (INS/GPS) integrated smoothing algorithm based on an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and a position damping loop (PDL) for synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Integrated navigation algorithms usually induce discontinuities due to error correction update by the Kalman filter, which are as detrimental to the performance of SAR as the relative position error. The proposed smoothing algorithm suppresses these discontinuities and also reduces the relative position error in real time. An EKF estimates the navigation errors and sensor biases, and all the errors except for the position error are corrected directly and instantly. A PDL activated during SAR operation period imposes damping effects on the position error estimates, where the estimated position error is corrected smoothly and gradually, which contributes to the real time smoothing and small relative position errors. The residual errors are re-estimated by the EKF to maintain the estimation performance and the stability of the overall loop. The performance improvements were confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation results showed that the discontinuities were reduced by 99.8% and the relative position error by 48% compared with a conventional EKF without a smoothing loop, thereby satisfying the basic performance requirements for SAR operation. The proposed algorithm may be applicable to low cost SAR systems which use a conventional INS/GPS without changing their hardware configurations.