Presenting a New Approach in Simulation and Analysis of Shoulder Error on Radar Antenna Beam of Space-Based Artificial Aperture

Since most space-based synthetic aperture radar systems have an accuracy of less than one meter in the resolution of images, very accurate processing of synthetic aperture radar data to produce images with high-resolution accuracy is of particular importance. In this article, methods for actual modeling and simulation of the space-based synthetic aperture radar system are presented and the raw data were obtained. For simulation and modeling, the main characteristics of the real satellite synthetic aperture radar system related to sensor mode/dynamics, target observation, antenna beam patterns, pointing errors on the antenna beam, and raw data generation are reflected. Analyzes based on simulations show the effectiveness of the presented methods. In the simulation, the presented method compensates for the phase errors induced by the aiming errors of the antenna beam. The results of the centralization of raw data, the calculated value of the resolution accuracy of the slant range is equal to 1.89 meters. Also, the average values of the measured slant range resolution accuracy, peak side-lobe ratio (PSLR), and integrated side-lobe ratio (ISLR) for the Interrogation Rate Frequency (IRF). An unweighted point in the focused image was obtained around 1.94 m, 13.57 dB and -10.26 dB respectively. The calculated value of azimuth resolution accuracy is 2.24 meters and the average values of measured azimuth resolution accuracy, PSLR, and ISLR for unweighted point target IRFs are 2.29 meters, -12.57 dB and -9.68 dB, respectively. These results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. In other words, the performance of space-based synthetic aperture radar image formation using the proposed method for raw data is very good, so the various effects induced by the real synthetic aperture radar sensor are reflected. Therefore, these results confirm the proposed methods for forming the space-based synthetic aperture radar image.