Optimal Beamforming for Maximization of the Image SNR in Ground-Based Circular Synthetic Aperture Radar

In this paper a method for optimal digital beamforming in ground-based circular synthetic aperture radar in order to maximize the image signal to noise ratio (SNR) is proposed. In this method to maximize the image SNR, an array of receiver elements is used and the complex weighting coefficients of receiver channels are computed by solving an optimization problem and eigenvalue decomposition. The optimization problem is formed based on data modeling in each range and matched filter image formation and SNR computation in each image pixel versus excitation coefficients. Finally, optimal weighting coefficients of each range are computed as the eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue of a matrix related to the geometry and parameters of the system. Simulations illustrate the superiority of the proposed method in increasing image SNR over other digital beamforming methods, especially at long ranges.