A NOVEL IMAGING ALGORITHM FOR
INVERSE-TOPS DATA PROCESSING
# Bian Liang, Li Jingwen, Yang Wei
School of Electronics and Information Engineering, BeiHang University, Beijing, China
askquestionbl@163.com
Abstract—Inverse TOP (Terrain Observation by Progressive
Scans) mode is a state-of-the-art SAR mode, which can realize
both low and high azimuth resolutions conveniently, and
alleviate the scalloping effect. This paper addresses a novel
image formation algorithm to deal with inverse TOPS data
processing with four steps. The first step is adopted the de-
rotation in azimuth, which will avoid azimuth frequency
superposition. Then, the precise focusing kernel is used. Due to
the de-rotation operation, the sampling rate is changed that
resulting the overlap in SAR image along azimuth direction. So,
resampling operation is necessary after focusing, and the
resampling rate is studied. Furthermore, the combination
operation is implemented, which realizes the combination of
sub-swaths. Finally, numerical simulations were implemented
to verify the accuracy of the proposed imaging algorithm.
Index Terms —SAR, inverse TOPS, pre- processing,
combination
I. INTRODUCTION
With the development of space-born synthetic aperture
radar (SAR) technique, more and more applications impose
increase requirements on the SAR image products, including
glacier movement, Ship detection, Forest monitoring, destroy
evaluation and so on[1-2]. Due to the applications diversity,
some advanced SAR image mode have been proposed to
meet different requirement on resolution and swath. Sliding
spot image mode is a high resolution image mode and enable
a wider swath than spot mode in azimuth direction[3], but
the observation coverage is still not bigger enough for some
applications. TOPSAR (Terrain Observation by Progressive
Scans) is a novel wide-swath mode, which resolve the
azimuthal scalloping problem comparing to traditional
ScanSAR mode[4]. Nevertheless, TOPS mode can't realize
high resolution image that limits the use of TOPS image
products. Inverse-TOPS mode is a very attractive image
mode, which not only can obtain high-resolution or wide-
swath convenience by adjusting operation parameter,
according to the requirement of applications, but also
decrease scalloping effect [5].
Some novel image algorithm has been proposed for
TOPS data processing , for example, the ECS (Extended
Chirp Scaling) algorithm and the BAS algorithm (Baseband
Azimuth Scaling)[6], which are sub-aperture algorithm.
978-1-4673-7297-8/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE
Moreover, full-aperture algorithm applied pre- processing to
deal with the aliasing in azimuth frequency[4][7]. However,
both of the sub-aperture and full-aperture can’t be
implemented directly for inverse TOPS data processing.
Some phase compensation should be modified to
accommodate the inverse TOPS data characteristic.
This paper addresses a novel inverse TOPS data
processing algorithm with pre- processing and combination
based on the full-aperture algorithm. And, the phase
compensation is also given as well.
II. INVERSE TOPS DATE PROCESSING
A. InverseTOPS mode Geometry
Fig.1 shows the geometry of inverse TOPS mode.
Compared with the TOPS mode, the rotation point is located
between satellite and ground in inverse TOPS mode, while
the rotation point is located the beyond the satellite. So, for
inverse TOPS mode, azimuth antenna beam steering is from
forward to backward, which is similar with the sliding
spotlight mode.
For stripmap mode, the velocity of azimuth antenna
beam footprint is approximately equal to velocity of satellite,
due to the fixed point of azimuth antenna beam. Moreover,
compared with stripmap mode, the velocity of azimuth
antenna beam footprint in TOPS mode is faster, and the
slower in sliding spotlight mode, which is suitable for high
resolution and low resolution application.
However, for inverse TOPS mode, it is convenient to
obtain azimuth high resolution or low resolution just by
change the position of the rotation point between the satellite
and ground. Azimuth resolution can be calculated by
formula (1)
D r
ρa = ⋅ 0 (1)
2 r1
Where D is length of antenna, r0 is the distance between
rotation point and ground, and r1 is the distance between
rotation point and satellite. So, according to formula (1), if a
high azimuth resolution is needed, the rotation point should
be located near ground. Otherwise, if rotation point near
satellite, a lower resolution, but a wider swath image will be
obtained.
425
 Due to the pre- processing operation, the sampling rate
in azimuth is changed, which results in the SAR image
overlap in azimuth. In order to avoid overlap, a resampling
operation is implemented, and sampling function is given by
formula (8) and (9).
­° fη2 ½°
H1 ( fη ) = exp ®− j ⋅ ʌ ⋅ ' ¾ (8)
¯° k1 ¿°
Where H1 ( fη ) is applied in Range-Doppler domain. And,
after compensation, azimuth iFFT is implemented, and the
Fig.1 Geometry of inverse TOPS mode. residual quadratic phase caused by H1 should be
compensation by formula (9).
B. Pre- processing H 2 (η ) = exp {− j ⋅ ʌ ⋅ k1' ⋅η 2 } (9)
Similar with the TOPS and sliding spotlight mode, the
Doppler bandwidth is larger than the pulse repetition Where k1' ≈ k1 , which is modified to get the same sampling
frequency (PRF). So, if azimuth FFT is applied directly, the rate in azimuth for different sub-swath image.
aliasing will happen in azimuth frequency domain. In order Then, azimuth FFT is adopted, and the finally inverse
to solve this problem, a pre- processing operation should be TOPS image is obtained.
adopted, which is given by formula (2).
H pre (η ) = exp { j ⋅ ʌ ⋅ k pre ⋅η 2 } (2) E. Combination
Where η is azimuth time, and k pre is given as follow. Range-Doppler location method is applied to finish
sub-swath combination. The timing relationship is also used
2vs2 for sub-swaths combination. Moreover, the GCP (ground
k pre = (3)
λ ⋅ r1 control point) is adopted to improve the location accuracy.
And, λ is wavelength, vs is satellite velocity. Finally, SAR images are combination in longitude and
latitude grid.
After the pre- processing operation, the azimuth signal
The flowchart of phase-preserving TOPS image
expression is shown as follow:
formation algorithm is shown in Fig.2.
ª D ⋅ vs ⋅ η º
S pre − (η ) ≈ rect « − » ⋅ exp { j ⋅ ʌ ⋅ k1 ⋅η }
2
(4)
¬ λ ⋅ r1 ¼
Where k1 is given by
2vs2
k1 = − (5)
λ ⋅ r0

C. Image focusing
After pre- operation, the equivalent sampling in
azimuth is changed, and given by formula (6)[7].
Fig.2 Flowchart of inverse TOPS data processing
N a ⋅ k pre
f sample _1 = (6)
fp
III. SIMULATION
Where N a is the number of point in azimuth, and f p is
The numerical simulations were implemented to verify
PRF. the accuracy of the proposed imaging algorithm. In order to
Because the sampling rate is changed, azimuth prove the precision of the proposed algorithm for the whole
frequency aliasing avoid. The Chirp Scaling algorithm scene, 9 point targets were located at different positions
kernel can be used [7]. Chirp Scaling algorithm has high with 1km interval apart from each other in the whole scene,
accuracy and high efficiency, which is suitable for range which is shown in Fig.3.
cell migration correction, range compression and azimuth
compression.

D. Resampling
After focusing operation, the residual phase should be
compensated first, given by formula (7).
­° fη2 ½°
Sresidual ( fη ) = exp ® j ⋅ ʌ ⋅ ¾ (7)
¯° k1 ¿°
Where fη is the azimuth frequency.
Fig.3 The simulation scene.

426 2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR)

 The simulation parameter used by beamposition 1 is Fig.4 combination result of sub-swath1 and sub-swath 2.
listed in Table I. Moreover, in order to verify the
combination operation, two beamposition were designed. IV. CONCLUSION
TABLE I. Simulation Parameters
Parameters Beampositon 1 Beampositon 2 This paper presents a novel imaging algorithm for
Height (km) 514 514 inverse-TOPS data processing. The algorithm includes four
Wavelength (m) 0.03 0.03 parts, namely de-rotation, focusing, re-sampling operation
Incidence angle (deg) 30 31
and combination. The operation of De-rotation is to
Pulse repetition frequency(Hz) 3500 3500
Pulse width (ȝs) 10 10 compensate the extension Doppler bandwidth caused by
Antenna length (m) 6.0 6.0 azimuth beam steering. Then, a chirp scaling algorithm
Bandwidth(MHz) 80 80 kernel is applied for focusing and re-sampling operation is
Sampling rate(MHz) 90 90 implemented to accommodate the image overlap in azimuth
direction. Furthermore, combination is adopted to get sub-
The response contour plot of nine point targets swath imaging together. Finally, simulation results illustrate
were shown in Fig.4 the performance of the proposed method.

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Finally, the echo of some point targets located at the

overlap of both sub-swath 1 and sub-swath 2 is simulation
and imaging respectively. And, the combination of the sub-
swath 1 and sub-swath 2 is shown in Fig.4.

2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR) 427