Time-frequency approaches to ISAR imaging of maneuvering targets and theirlimitations

Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of the noncooperative maneu vering target is a challenging task because of its time variant orientation and rotation velocity which cannot be measured accurately. This correspond ence investigates the principles of ISAR imaging of maneuvering targets, an d proposes an algorithm for application in situations where the maneuverabi lity is not too severe and the Doppler variation of subechoes from scattere rs can be approximated as a first-order polynomial. The imaging results obt ained by using real data show the effectiveness of the new method.