Program: Synthetic aperture radar, SAR, systems are a highly developed combination of precision hardware and electronic design for data acquisition, and advanced theoretical principles of mathematics and physics to convert the acquired data to high-resolution images. The origin of the SAR theoretical principles can be traced back to Gabor's theory of wavefront reconstruction. Utility of the wavefront reconstruction theory in SAR was recognized during the inception of this imaging system (1950s and 60s). However, the lack of fast computing machines and advanced digital information (signal) processing algorithms at that time prevented the development of wavefront reconstruction-based SAR imaging methods. The first digital signal processing methods for SAR image formation via the wavefront reconstruction theory were introduced in the late 1980s. SAR wavefront reconstruction theory not only provides a tool for SAR image formation but also reveals functional properties of the SAR signal which contradict or were not predicted in the approximation-based theoretical foundation of either range-Doppler imaging or polar format processing.
This presentation examines the signal processing foundation and digital algorithms for the SAR wavefront reconstruction theory. This analysis not only establishes constraints for acquiring the SAR data from the system design point of view but also provides digital signal and image processing algorithms for proper and alias-free implementation of the SAR wavefront reconstruction. In the presentation, we also examine the design and processing of radar signals for Electronic Counter Countermeasure (ECCM), for example, phase-modulated (phase-perturbed) chirp signals. The presentation also includes results from realistic foliage penetrating P-3 SAR data, and circular SAR (CSAR; turntable) data of a T-72 tank.
Biography: Dr. Mehrdad Soumekh has served as a consultant on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signal processing for the government and industry. He has held visiting appointments at Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance (SPAWAR Systems) Center, San Diego, California; Air Force's Phillips Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico; MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Massachusetts; Air Force's Rome Laboratory, Rome, New York; MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts; and Air Force's Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio. He is the author of the books "Fourier Array Imaging" (Prentice Hall, 1994), and "Synthetic Aperture Radar Signal Processing with MATLAB Algorithms" (New York: Wiley, 1999). He is currently a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. His work on SAR has been supported by the Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Science Foundation, SPAWAR Systems Center, and Bell Aerospace. He recently received an award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to establish a high performance computing laboratory for SAR signal processing and imaging; http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~msoum.
Contact Info:
Dr. Mehrdad Soumekh
201 Bell Hall
Department of Electrical Engineering
State University of New York at Buffalo
Amherst, NY 14260
(716) 645-2422, extension 2138
email:msoum@eng.buffalo.edu
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~msoum
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For more information: Contact Byron Keel at (770) 528-7710, or David Aalfs at (770) 528-7921.
