The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 31, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 25, 2006
Jefferson M. Willey, Columbia, MD (US);
William A. Barnwell, Rockville, MD (US);
James R. Buss, Woodville, VA (US);
Harold H. Szu, Potomac, MD (US);
Jefferson M. Willey, Columbia, MD (US);
William A. Barnwell, Rockville, MD (US);
James R. Buss, Woodville, VA (US);
Harold H. Szu, Potomac, MD (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining three dimensional sub-voxel positions using synthetic aperture radar. The apparatus includes at least four non-coplanar, phase-coherent synthetic aperture radar (SAR) platforms comprising a plurality of phase-synchronized local oscillators cohered to a common reference clock, a first SAR platform of the SAR platforms operable to transmit a radar waveform, and the SAR platforms operable to receive scattered energy waveforms resulting from the radar waveform and operable to generate two-dimensional (2-D) SAR images based on the received scattered energy waveforms. The apparatus also includes a synchronizing processor operable to communicate with the SAR platforms and operable to synchronize a plurality of SAR transmission and receiving intervals for the SAR platforms. Optionally, the apparatus also includes an image-coregistration processor operable to receive at least four 2-D SAR images from the SAR platforms, and operable to generate a 3-D SAR image having 3-D voxel positions by coregistering the 2-D SAR images. Optionally, the apparatus also includes a sub-voxel position processor operable to calculate sub-voxel positions of single point scatterers from differential phase measurements on a given voxel across all of the SAR platforms.