A Modified Design Method of PRF for High-Speed Maneuvering-Platform SAR Imaging Based on Range Segmentation

In high-speed maneuvering-platform synthetic aperture radar (SAR), pulse repetition frequency (PRF) is a critically important parameter. When radar antenna beam covers a large ground area, resulting in a significant radar echo spread time, it will lead to a relatively low upper limit of PRF. Meanwhile, high-speed platform motion cause a larger Doppler bandwidth, which increases the lower limit of PRF. This situation can cause the PRF upper limit to be less than the PRF lower limit, rendering PRF design impractical. In this study, we develop a modified PRF design method based on range segmentation for high-speed maneuvering-platform SAR imaging. First, the radar beam footprint is divided into equidistant segments. Subsequently, the maximum Doppler bandwidth of all range segments is derived to achieve the PRF lower limit, this procedure effectively reduces the lower limit of PRF and significantly expands the selectable range of PRF. Simulation experiments demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.