Research on Internal Solitary Wave Detection and Analysis Based on Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter Onboard the Tiangong-2 Space Laboratory

The Tiangong-2 space laboratory was launched by China on 15 September 2016, carrying the Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter (InIRA), the first of the latest generation of imaging altimeters that can perform imaging and acquire elevation information simultaneously. This paper analyzes the feasibility of using InIRA images to obtain two-dimensional characteristics of oceanic internal solitary waves (ISWs) and information about vertical sea surface fluctuations caused by the propagation of ISWs. The results show that InIRA demonstrates a relatively reliable ability to observe ISWs with high resolution and can identify the fine-scale features of ISWs of different forms. Furthermore, InIRA can observe centimeter-level changes in the Sea Surface Height Anomaly (SSHA) caused by ISWs. The geometric relationship between the sensor’s flight direction and the propagation direction of ISWs does not affect its detection effect. However, the swath width of InIRA is too narrow to fully capture ISW information, and the height accuracy of InIRA height product images is not insufficient to detect the height information of small-scale ISWs. These shortcomings need to be considered in the future development of imaging altimeters to increase their potential for detecting mesoscale phenomena in the ocean.

A Full-Polarization Radar Image Reconstruction Method with Orthogonal Coding Apertures

Imaging radar is widely applied in both military and civil fields, including remote sensing. In recent years, polarization information has attracted more and more attention in the imaging radar. The orthogonality between different channels is always the core problem for the full-polarization imaging radar. To solve this problem, an image reconstruction method using orthogonal coding apertures technique is proposed for full-polarization imaging radar in this paper. Firstly, the signal model of the orthogonal coding apertures is proposed. This model realizes the ideal time-domain orthogonality between switching two channels by the apertures with two trains of orthogonal codes. Then, a multichannel joint reconstruction method based on compressed sensing is proposed for the imaging processing, which is named the coded aperture simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit (CAS-OMP) algorithm. The proposed algorithm combines the information of all polarization channels so as to ensure the consistency of the scattering point position obtained by each polarization channel and also improves the reconstruction accuracy. Finally, the simulation experiments using both the simple scaled model of the satellite and measured data of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are conducted, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified.

Through Wall Imaging Radar Antenna with a Focus on Opening New Research Avenues

This review paper is an effort to develop insight into the development in antennas for through wall imaging radar application. Review on literature on antennas for use in through wall imaging radar, fulfilling one or more requirements/specifications such as ultrawide bandwidth, stable and high gain, stable unidirectional radiation pattern, wide scanning angle, compactness ensuring portability and facilitating real-time efficient and simple imaging is presented. The review covers variants of Vivaldi, Bow tie, Horn, Spiral, Patch and Magneto-electric dipole antennas demonstrated as suitable antennas for the through wall imaging radar application. With an aim to open new research avenues for making better through wall imaging radar antenna, review on relevant compressive reflector antennas, surface integrated waveguide antennas, plasma antennas, metamaterial antennas and single frequency dynamically configurable meta-surface antennas are incorporated. The review paper brings out possibilities of designing an optimum through wall imaging radar antenna and prospects of future research on the antenna to improve radiation pattern and facilitate overall simple and efficient imaging by the through wall imaging radar.