Inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging of maneuvering targets

Range Doppler imaging, a basic method used in inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR), is based on the uniform rotation model of a target. The rotation velocity and axis of a maneuvering aircraft often vary with time. Traditional imaging methods may blur the target image and even render it beyond recognition. A concept is presented for range-instantaneous Doppler imaging and a corresponding imaging method that can clearly improve the image quality of most maneuvering aircraft. The resulting images of real data show that the method is effective. (C) 1998 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(98)02605-1].