Robust Synchronization Error Estimation Under Multipath Fading in Distributed SAR

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based distributed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a current research focus. Phase synchronization is crucial for eliminating the non-coherence of distributed systems. However, as the number of UAVs increases, fast time-varying multipath effects caused by rotors can lead to multipath fading. This degrades the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the synchronization link and distorts the synchronization waveform. It further breaks the reciprocity of the dual one-way synchronization link, ultimately degrading phase synchronization accuracy. We propose a robust method for spike detection and error propagation to improve phase synchronization precision. Using the Hampel filter, we detect pulse peak position jitter and remove observations from anomalous links. We then use data fusion based on minimum variance to recover synchronization errors in these links, leveraging the redundancy in synchronization phase matrices. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed through flight test data from a four-UAV distributed TomoSAR experiment. Compared to the maximum-peak detection method, the phase accuracy is improved from 12.84 deg to 0.61 deg. This method supports the application of distributed SAR.