Coherent range-dependent map-drift algorithm for improving SAR motion compensation

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is usually sensitive to trajectory deviations that cause serious motion error in the recorded data. In this paper, a coherent range-dependent map-drift (CRDMD) algorithm is developed to accommodate the range-variant motion errors. By utilizing the algorithm as an estimate core, robust motion compensation strategy is proposed for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) SAR imagery. CRDMD outperforms the conventional map-drift algorithms in both accuracy and efficiency. Real data experiments show that the proposed approach is appropriate for precise motion compensation for UAV SAR.