Three-dimensional interferometric ISAR imaging for target scattering diagnosis and modeling

Two-dimensional (2-D) inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging has b een widely used in target scattering diagnosis, modeling and target identif ication. A major shortcoming is that a 2-D ISAR image cannot provide inform ation on the relative altitude of each scattering center on the target. In this paper, we present an interferometric inverse synthetic aperture radar (IF-ISAR) image processing technique for three-dimensional (3-D) target alt itude image formation. The 2-D ISAR images are obtained from the signature data acquired as a function of frequency and azimuthal angle. A 3-D IF-ISAR altitude image can then be derived from two 2-D images reconstructed from the measurements by antennas at different altitudes. 3-D altitude image for mation examples from both indoor and outdoor test range data are demonstrat ed on complex radar targets.