Cross-Range Scaling for ISAR Based on Image Rotation Correlation

For better understanding of the imaging result provided by inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR), it is more desirable to present it from the conventional range-Doppler domain to the homogeneous range-cross-range domain. To accomplish the process of cross-range scaling, the rotating velocity (RV) of the target should be estimated first. For a uniformly planar rotating object, a novel method based on a concept of rotation correlation is proposed to obtain the RV in this letter, and neither prominent scattering centers nor phase coefficient extraction is required. Furthermore, a three-step fast-Fourier-transform-based convolution interpolation scheme is proposed to realize the above correlation, which makes the proposed method more efficient for implementation. Finally, experimental results with both simulated and real ISAR data are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for different targets.