IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO.

8, APRIL 15, 2016

2509

ISAR Imaging of Targets With Complex Motions

Based on a Noise-Resistant Parameter Estimation
Algorithm Without Nonuniform Axis
Jibin Zheng, Hongwei Liu, Member, IEEE, Guisheng Liao, Member, IEEE,
Tao Su, Zheng Liu, and Qing Huo Liu, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract In inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging

of targets with complex motions, such as highly maneuvering
airplanes and ships fluctuating with oceanic waves, azimuth
echoes of a range cell have to be modeled as multicomponent
cubic phase signals (CPSs) after the range alignment and the
phase adjustment. Due to the time-varying Doppler frequencies
of scatterers, ISAR image obtained with the standard rangeDoppler algorithm is blurred, and the range-instantaneousDoppler (RID) technique is required to improve the image
quality. In this paper, by employing a novel parametric autocorrelation function and the generalized scaled Fourier transform, an effective parameter estimation algorithm is proposed
for multicomponent CPSs and applied to reconstruct the RID
image for targets with complex motions. Analyses of the implementation, the cross-term, the anti-noise performance, and the
computational cost demonstrate that, compared with other three
representative estimation algorithms, the proposed algorithm
can eliminate the brute-force searching procedure and acquire
a higher anti-noise performance without the nonuniform axis.
Through simulations and analyses for synthetic models and
the real radar data, we verify the effectiveness of the proposed estimation algorithm and the corresponding ISAR imaging
algorithm.
Index Terms Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR),
cubic phase signal (CPS), range-instantaneous-Doppler (RID)
technique, range-Doppler (RD) algorithm.

I. I NTRODUCTION

HE high-resolution inverse synthetic aperture

radar (ISAR) imaging plays important roles in civil
and military fields, and has attracted the attention of many
researchers in the past decades [1][4]. In order to obtain
a well-focused ISAR image, after the range compression,

Manuscript received June 26, 2015; revised January 6, 2016; accepted

January 6, 2016. Date of publication January 8, 2016; date of current version
February 24, 2016. This work was supported in part by the Project Funded by
the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under Grant 2015M582615, in part
by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61201285
and Grant 61271291, in part by the Program for New Century Excellent
Talents in University under Grant NCET-09-0630, in part by the Foundation
for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China under
Grant FANEDD-201156, and in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for
the Central Universities. The associate editor coordinating the review of this
paper and approving it for publication was Prof. Aime Lay-Ekuakille.
J. Zheng, H. Liu, G. Liao, T. Su, and Z. Liu are with the National Laboratory of Radar Signal Processing, Xidian University, Xian 710071, China
(e-mail: jibin_zheng@sina.cn; hwliu@xidian.edu.cn; liaogs@xidian.edu.cn;
sutao@xidian.edu.cn; lz@xidian.edu.cn).
Q. H. Liu is with the Department of Electronic Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 USA (e-mail: qhliu@ee.duke.edu).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2016.2516040

primary procedures include the range alignment [5][7] and

the phase adjustment [8], [9]. Thereafter, the standard rangeDoppler (RD) method, which requires the constant Doppler
frequency and can be efficiently implemented via the fast
Fourier transform (FFT), will be used to reconstruct a
well-focused ISAR image. However, in realistic applications,
the imaged targets are usually noncooperative and have
the maneuverability [10][32], such as targets with
moderate maneuvers [10][16] and targets with complex
motions [17][31]. The scatterers of the noncooperative targets
have the time-varying Doppler frequencies and ISAR image
obtained with the standard RD algorithm is blurred. Thus,
the range-instantaneous-Doppler (RID) technique is usually
employed to improve the image quality [13][14], [27][31].
The azimuth echoes of targets with moderate maneuvers
have to be modeled as the linear frequency-modulated (LFM)
signal and the chirp rate is identified as the cause of the image
defocus [10][16]. In many references, the LFM signal model
has been verified with the real radar data [13], [14], [32]
and several successful parameter estimation algorithms have
been proposed to reconstruct RID image, such as the modified discrete chirp Fourier transform [10], [11], the integrated cubic phase function [12], the stretch keystone-Wigner
transform [13], [14] and the Lvs distribution [15], [16]. The
targets with complex motions include the highly maneuvering
airplanes [3], [29] and the ships fluctuating with oceanic
waves [27], [28], [30], [31]. The azimuth echoes of targets
with complex motions have to be modeled as the cubic phase
signal (CPS), and the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp
rate induce the Doppler frequency shift and deteriorate the
ISAR image [29][31]. In [30] and [31], we have used the
real radar data simulations and theory analyses to validate
the CPS model for targets with complex motions. Due to
the existence of the quadratic chirp rate, aforementioned
parameter estimation algorithms for the LFM signal are no
longer applicable for the CPS [27][31].
In order to reconstruct well-focused ISAR images for
targets with complex motions, several parameter estimation
algorithms have been presented for the CPS, such as the
maximum likelihood method [17], the modified discrete chirp
Fourier transform for the CPS [18], the higher-order ambiguity
function [19], the cubic phase function [20], [21], the product
generalized cubic phase function [22], the time-chirp distribution DechirpClean algorithm [23], the product high-order

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2510

matched-phase transform [24], the local polynomial Wigner

distribution [25], [26], the integrated higher-order ambiguity
function [25], the higher-order ambiguity functionintegrated
cubic phase function (HAF-ICPF) [27] and the scaled Fourier
transform (SCFT) based algorithm [28]. In our previously
published papers [29][31], we have discussed characteristics
of aforementioned estimation algorithms in details and indicated that these algorithms cannot achieve a good balance
among the cross-term suppression, the elimination of the
brute-force searching, the anti-noise performance and the computational cost. In order to resolve problems of aforementioned
estimation algorithms, the keystone time-chirp rate distribution
and the chirp rate-quadratic chirp rate distribution are proposed
in [29] and [30], respectively. However, in some realistic
ISAR imaging applications, the target motion changes quickly
and it is a little difficult to obtain much redundancy information to satisfy the keystone transform and the generalized
keystone transform [31]. Thereafter, we propose the generalized scaled Fourier transform (GSCFT) based algorithm
in [31]. Although the redundancy information is unnecessary
for the GSCFT based algorithm, its anti-noise performance is
poor. The other drawback of the GSCFT based algorithm is
that the nonuniform axis appears and the FFT cannot be used
anymore. This drawback also happens to other estimation algorithms [20][22], [24][28], [30]. Although we have employed
the nonuniform FFT (NUFFT) [33][34] to speed up the
Fourier transform of the nonuniform axis [30], [31], the interpolation is necessary for the NUFFT, which is not preferred
in realistic applications [35]. Actually, in SAR imaging, the
azimuth echo of the ground maneuvering target also takes the
form of the CPS after the range migration compensation [39].
Thus, the research on the CPS also benefits the ground moving
target identification (GMTI) of SAR imaging [40].
In this paper, aiming to resolve problems of existing estimation algorithms for the CPS [17][31], we propose a noiseresistant parameter estimation algorithm without nonuniform
axis by employing a novel parametric autocorrelation function
and the GSCFT. The defined parametric autocorrelation function benefits the anti-noise performance and helps avoid the
nonuniform axis. The GSCFT can be implemented with the
FFT based chirp-z transform to eliminate the coupling without
the brute-force searching. Through analyses of the implementation, the cross-term, the anti-noise performance and the
computational cost, we demonstrate that, compared to three
representative estimation algorithms, the HAF-ICPF [27],
the SCFT based algorithm [28] and the GSCFT based algorithm [31], our proposed estimation algorithm can eliminate
the brute-force searching and acquire a higher anti-noise
performance without the nonuniform axis. Thereafter, based on
the proposed estimation algorithm, an effective ISAR imaging
algorithm is proposed for targets with complex motions.
In this paper, the synthetic data and the real radar data are
utilized to verify the proposed estimation algorithm and the
corresponding ISAR imaging algorithm.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.
In Section II, by employing a novel parametric autocorrelation
function and the GSCFT, an effective parameter estimation
algorithm is presented for multicomponent CPSs. In addition,

IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 8, APRIL 15, 2016

the cross-term and the implementation of the proposed algorithm are also analyzed in this section. The anti-noise performance and the computational cost of the proposed algorithm
are analyzed in Section III. Based on the proposed estimation
algorithm, we propose a novel ISAR imaging algorithm for
targets with complex motions in Section IV. With the synthetic
radar data and the real radar data, the proposed ISAR imaging
algorithm is verified in Section V. Section VI gives the
conclusion of this paper.
II. PARAMETER E STIMATION A LGORITHM
FOR M ULTICOMPONENT CPSs
In [29][31], we have studied ISAR imaging of targets
with complex motions, including the geometry, the pulse
compression, the range alignment, the phase adjustment, the
parameters estimation and the imaging algorithm. In this paper,
we aim to propose an efficient parameter estimation algorithm
and apply it to ISAR imaging. According to analyses and
simulations in [29][31], after the pulse compression, the
range alignment and the phase adjustment, azimuth echoes
of the lth range cell take the form of multicomponent CPSs
sl (tm ) =

P

p=1

P

p=1



A p exp j p (tm ) + z (tm )



1
1
A p exp j 2 1, p tm + 2, p tm2 + 3, p tm3
2
6

+z (tm )

(1)

where tm denotes the slow time, whose sampling frequency

equals to the pulse repetition frequency (PRF). P is the
number of scatterers in the lth range cell. A p and p (tm )
are the amplitude and the signal phase of the pth scatterer,
respectively. z (tm ) is the additive complex white Gaussian
noise with a variance of 2 . 1, p , 2, p and 3, p denote the
centroid frequency, the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate,
respectively. It is known that the centroid frequency, the chirp
rate and the quadratic chirp rate of each scatterer are proportional to the corresponding cross-range coordinate [29], [30].
Thus, in the lth range cell, we have 1, p = 1,q , 2, p = 2,q
and 3, p = 3,q for the pth and qth scatterers.
In ISAR imaging based on the CPS model, the chirp
rate and the quadratic chirp rate induce the Doppler frequency shift and an effective parameter estimation algorithm is
required to reconstruct a well-focused ISAR image [22][24].
In this section, an effective parameter estimation algorithm
is proposed for multicomponent CPSs by employing a novel
parametric autocorrelation function and the GSCFT. Three
subsections below, Subsections II-A, II-B and II-C, will
discuss the principle, the cross-term suppression and the
implementation of the proposed algorithm, respectively.
A. Principle of the Proposed Estimation Algorithm
Consider noise-free multicomponent CPSs



P

1
1
A p exp j 2 1, p tm + 2, p tm2 + 3, p tm3
s (tm ) =
2
6
p=1

(2)

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2511

For correlation algorithms, the defined autocorrelation

functions usually determine their performances, such as the
computational cost and the anti-noise performance [19][31].
Here, based on the format of (2) and analyses in [27], [28],
[31], and [36], we define a novel parametric autocorrelation
function
Rs (tm , m ) = [s (tm + m +  ) s (tm m  )]
[s (tm + m  ) s (tm m +  )]

(3)

where and m denote the complex conjugation and the

lag-time variable, respectively. Here, according to [36],
we set the optimal constant delay  to 0.089 times of the
signal length.
It is worthwhile noting that, different from the autocorrelation function defined in [31], this defined parametric
autocorrelation function uses both the constant delay  and
the lag-time variable m to complete the order reduction
and the energy accumulation. The defined parametric autocorrelation function has two advantages, (1) it can reduce
the number of autocorrelations, which benefits the anti-noise
performance [36], and (2) it helps the proposed parameters
estimation algorithm avoid the nonuniform axis. Analyses and
simulations below will demonstrate these two advantages.
Substituting (2) into (3), we have
Rs (tm , m ) =

P



A4p exp j 2 42, p  m + 43, p  m tm

p=1

+Rs,cross (tm , m )

(4)

where Rs,cross (tm , m ) denotes the cross-term under multicomponent CPSs and will be analyzed in Subsection II-B.
In (4), the slow time tm and the lag-time m couple with
each other in the exponential phase term. If we perform
the FFT operation along the tm axis, the signal energy
will peak along the inclined line f tm 43, p  m = 0
( f tm denotes the frequency domain with respect to tm ) and the
signal energy accumulation cannot be completed only with the
FFT operation. In [31], we have proposed the GSCFT to
eliminate most kinds of couplings in ISAR imaging and
demonstrated that the GSCFT has a wider applicability than
other SCFTs. Thus, here, we can employ the GSCFT to
eliminate the coupling in Rs (tm , m ). The GSCFT proposed
in [31] takes the form as





g (m ) exp j 2am mb
T f [ am mb ] , m =
mb



exp j 2 am mb f[ am mb ]


d am mb



(5)
= g (m ) f [ am mb ]

where denotes the zoom factor. f [ am mb ] is the scaled

frequency domain with respect to mb . a and b are known
constants. g (m ) is the function of m . is an unknown
parameter.

Based on the parametric autocorrelation function in (4) and

the GSCFT in (5), several substitution operations are done as
follows

a = 1, b =
 1, m = m , m = tm
(6)
g (m ) exp j 2am mb = Rs (tm , m )
With substitution operations in (6), (5) can be rewritten as


T f [ m tm ] , m


P



=
A4p exp j 2 42, p  m + 43, p  m tm

p=1
tm

+Rs,cross (tm , m )



exp j 2 m tm f [ m tm ] d (m tm )


P



4 3, p
A4p exp j 82, p  m f [ m tm ]
=

p=1


(7)
+Tcross f [ m tm ] , m
where  () denotes
the Dirac delta function.

Tcross f [ m tm ] , m denotes the cross-term after the GSCFT.
In (7), after the GSCFT, the coupling is eliminated and the signal energy accumulates into the beeline
f [ m tm ] 4 3, p / = 0. Now, we need to perform the
Fourier transform along the m axis to complete the energy
accumulation. This defined parametric autocorrelation function
uses both the constant lag-time  and the lag-time variable m
to complete the order reduction and the energy accumulation.
Thus, different from the nonuniform m axis in [31], the
m axis of (7) is uniform and we can just perform the FFT.


Q f[ m tm ] , f m
 

= FFTm T f [ m tm ] , m


P



4 3, p
4
=
A p f m 4 2, p f [ m tm ]

p=1


+ Q cross f [ m tm ] , f m
(8)
where fm denotes the frequency domain with respect to m .
FFTm []
 denotes the FFT operation along the m axis.
Q cross f[ m tm ] , f m denotes the cross-term after the FFT
with respect to m .


In (8), for
 each CPS, Q f [m tm ] , fm has a sole peak at
the point 4 2, p , 4 3, p / and can be modeled as an
ideal point spread function. Thus, if the cross-term cannot
accumulate as the self-term (this will be verified in the next
subsection), parameters 2, p and 3, p can be estimated by
constructing a cost function to (7) [30], [31]. Thereafter,
with these two estimated parameters, other parameters,
A p and 1, p , can be obtained by the dechirp technique and the
FFT operation [31].
Above is the proposed parameter estimation algorithm for
the CPS. Based on (3), (7) and (8), we give the abbreviated
expression of the proposed parameter estimation algorithm.



Q f[ m tm ] , f m = FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] [PAF [s (tm )]]
(9)

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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 8, APRIL 15, 2016

where PAF [] and GSCFT[ m tm ] [] denote the parametric

autocorrelation function defined in (3) and the GSCFT operator in (7), respectively.
B. Cross-Term Analysis of the Proposed
Estimation Algorithm
In (8), although the proposed estimation algorithm accumulates the self-term
into sole peaks, the cross-term

Q cross f [ m tm ] , fm also exists due to the nonlinearity of
the defined parametric autocorrelation function. The correct
parameters estimation of Subsection II-A is based on the
assumption that the cross-term cannot accumulate as the selfterm. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the cross-term.
Based on the cross-term analysis method employed
in [12], [15], and [16], we consider two noise-free CPSs to
formulate the cross-term problem arising from multicomponent CPSs.
sm (tm ) = s1 (tm ) + s2 (tm )

(10)

where




1
1
2
3
s1 (tm ) =A1 exp j 2 1,1 tm + 2,1 tm + 3,1 tm
2
6



1
1
2
3
s2 (tm ) =A2 exp j 2 1,2 tm + 2,2 tm + 3,2 tm
2
6

(10a)
(10b)

Performing the proposed estimation algorithm on sm (tm ),

we obtain


Q sm f [ m tm ] , f m

= FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] [PAF [sm (tm )]]





4 3,1
= A41 f m 4 2,1 f [ m tm ]



4
+ A2 fm 4 2,2




4 3,2
f [ m tm ]
+ Q sm ,cross f [ m tm ] , f m
(11)

In (11), two self-terms accumulate into two

 sole peaks
and the appearance of the cross-term Q sm ,cross f [ m tm ] , fm
may influence the detection of these two self-terms.
In Appendix,
we analyze
characteristics of the cross-term


Q sm ,cross f [ m tm ] , f m in detail and obtain the lemma below.
Lemma: For the proposed estimation algorithm application in ISAR imaging of targets with complex motions, the
cross-term Q sm ,cross cannot accumulate as the self-term.
With analyses in Appendix and the Lemma, we know that
this proposed estimation algorithm can work well under multicomponent CPSs for ISAR imaging of targets with complex
motions. Although we only discuss the situation P = 2,
this Lemma is also applicable for multicomponent CPSs with
P > 2 [30], [31]. More similar detailed derivations can
be found in [15], [16], [30], and [31]. In the following,
an example will be given to show how the proposed estimation algorithm accumulates the self-term and suppresses the
cross-term under multicomponent CPSs.
Example 1: We consider two CPSs denoted by Bu1 and Bu2.
The PRF and the number of effective integration pulses Ntm
are also 128 Hz and 256, respectively. The signal parameters

Fig. 1. Simulation results of Example 1. (a) Contour of the lag-time and the
Doppler frequency distribution. (b) Contour of the lag-time and the quadratic
chirp rate distribution. (c) Contour of the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp
rate distribution. (d) Stereogram of the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate
distribution.

are set as follows: A1 = 1, 1,1 = 60, 2,1 = 36, 3,1 = 28

for Bu1; A2 = 1, 1,2 = 56, 2,2 = 36, 3,2 = 20
for Bu2, respectively. Considering the estimation precision and
the realistic application, the zoom factor is also set to 1.
Fig. 1 gives simulation results of Example 1.
Fig. 1(a) shows the lag-time and the Doppler frequency
distribution of Bu1 and Bu2. Obviously, due to the coupling
between the slow time tm and the lag-time m , two selfterms take the form of two inclined lines. In Fig. 1(a), the
cross-term also appears. We apply the GSCFT to remove the
coupling and obtain the lag-time and the quadratic chirp rate
distribution in Fig. 1(b), where two self-term are corrected into
two beelines. However, the GSCFT cannot work on the crossterm, which is typically dispersed on the lag-time and the
quadratic chirp rate plane. Performing the FFT operation
along lag-time axis of Fig. 1(b), we obtain the chirp rate and
the quadratic chirp rate distribution in Fig. 1(c), where only
the self-term accumulates into sole peaks. Fig. 1(d) gives the
stereogram of Fig. 1(c). In Fig. 1(d), with the peak detection
technique [27][31], (2,1 , 3,1 ) and (2,2 , 3,2 ) can be
estimated as (36 Hz/s, 28 Hz/s2 ) and (36 Hz/s, 20 Hz/s2 ),
respectively. Thereafter, compensating the azimuth echo for
the phase term pertaining to the estimated parameters and
performing an FFT, we estimate ( A1 , 1,1 ) and ( A2 , 1,2 ) as
(1, 60 Hz) and (1, 56 Hz), respectively.
C. Comments on the Implementation
The GSCFT plays an important role in the proposed
estimation algorithm. In [31], we have proposed two efficient
implementation methods for the GSCFT, which are the
FFT based chirp-z transform and the NUFFT. Although the
NUFFT and the FFT based chirp-z transform both need a
low computational cost and can eliminate the brute-force

ZHENG et al.: ISAR IMAGING OF TARGETS WITH COMPLEX MOTIONS

searching procedure, the interpolation is necessary for the

NUFFT and not preferred in realistic applications [35].
According to analyses in [31], the GSCFT should be implemented with the FFT based chirp-z transform when the m is
uniform (b = 1) and the NUFFT when the m is nonuniform
(b = 1). In this proposed estimation algorithm, the novel
parametric autocorrelation function defined in (3) guarantees
the uniform tm axis, which corresponds to m in the GSCFT.
Therefore, the GSCFT in (7) can be implemented with the
FFT based chirp-z transform. Combining analyses
in Subsection II-A, we obtain that, different from the
GSCFT based algorithm proposed in [31], this proposed
estimation algorithm can be implemented only with the
complex multiplication and the FFT.
Although the proposed estimation algorithm has a good
cross-term suppression, the cross-term does exist. Two cases
should be considered [26][31], (1) multicomponent CPSs
with the same amplitude, and (2) multicomponent CPSs with
different amplitudes. For the first case, such as Example 1, the
cross-term cannot accumulate as the self-term and influence
the detection of the self-term. For the second case, the weak
self-term may be submerged in the cross-term generated by
strong CPSs. Under such a case, similar to other correlation
algorithms [20][31], the Clean technique is suggested to be
employed by the proposed estimation algorithm.
III. A NALYSES OF A NTI -N OISE P ERFORMANCE
AND C OMPUTATIONAL C OST
In this section, the computational cost and the anti-noise
performance, which play important roles in parameters
estimation [25][31], will be analyzed for the proposed estimation algorithm. Three representative estimation algorithms,
the HAF-ICPF [27], the SCFT based algorithm [28] and the
GSCFT based algorithm [31], are selected as comparisons.
A. Computational Cost Analysis
The main implementation
 procedures of the HAF-ICPF


include the HAF (O Ntm ) and the ICPF (O Nt3m ) [27].

Thus, its computational cost is in the order of the O Nt3m .
For the SCFT based algorithm [28], the main implementation procedures
include the defined autocorrelation


 func
tion (O Nt2m ), the SCFT operation (O Nt2m log2 Ntm ) and
the discrete
Fourier transform of the nonuniform lag-time

axis (O Nt3m ). Thus, its computational cost is in the order


of the O Nt3m . The GSCFT based algorithm employs the
NUFFT to speed up the Fourier transform of the nonuniform lag-time axis,
and its  computational cost is in the

order of the O Nt2m log2 Ntm [31]. For the proposed algorithm, its main implementation procedures include
the defined

2 ), the GSCFT
parametric
autocorrelation
function
(O
N
tm


(O Nt2m log2 Ntm ) and the FFT operation
along the uni
form lag-time axis (O Nt2m log2 Ntm ). Thus, its computa
tional cost is also in the order of the O Nt2m log2 Ntm .
Table I gives computational costs of these four estimation
algorithms.
The HAF-ICPF and the SCFT based algorithm use the
discrete Fourier transform to complete the Fourier transform

2513

TABLE I
C OMPUTATIONAL C OST

of the nonuniform lag-time axis [27], [28]. The brute-force

searching is necessary for the discrete Fourier transform, and
will induce the high computational cost and the complicated
radar system [15], [16]. In the GSCFT based algorithm, the
NUFFT is employed to speed up the Fourier transform of
the nonuniform lag-time axis [31]. However, the interpolation
is necessary for the NUFFT and non-preferred in realistic
applications [15], [35]. The proposed algorithm has the same
computational cost as the GSCFT based algorithm. However,
due to the parametric autocorrelation function defined in (3),
the uniform lag-time axis appears instead of the nonuniform
lag-time axis and the FFT can work.
B. Anti-Noise Performance Analysis
In this subsection, we will analyze the anti-noise performance of the proposed algorithm. According to analysis methods employed in [15], [27][30], and [36], [37],
with Example 2, we use the input-output signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR) [29], [30], [37] and the mean square
error (MSE) [15], [27][30], [36] to evaluate the anti-noise
performance of the proposed algorithm.
Example 2: We consider monocomponent CPS denoted
by Cu. The PRF and the number of effective integration
pulses Ntm are also 128 Hz and 256, respectively. Parameters of Cu are set as follows: A1 = 1, 1,1 = 20 Hz,
2,1 = 5.7 Hz/s, 3,1 = 4.6 Hz/s2 . The CPS is contaminated
with the zero-mean white Gaussian noise. The zoom factor is
also set to 1. The tested input SNRs are SNRin = [6 : 1 : 0],
and 50 trials are performed for each SNRin . Fig. 2 gives
simulation results.
Fig. 2(a) shows the input-output SNR comparison, and the
result of the matched filter for the CPS Cu in Example 2
is also shown with the solid line. The HAF-ICPF is based
on the incoherent accumulation and has a low anti-noise
performance (2 dB). We can find the evidence for the
HAF-ICPF in [12], [30], and [36]. The SCFT based algorithm and the GSCFT based algorithm, which employ the
same fourth-order autocorrelation function, are based on the
coherent accumulation [28], [31]. However, the employed
fourth-order autocorrelation function uses only the lagtime variable m to complete the order reduction and the
energy accumulation. Thus, it needs a large number of
autocorrelations, which influences the anti-noise performance
(3 dB) [36]. The proposed algorithm defines a novel parametric autocorrelation function, which uses both the optimal
constant delay  and the lag-time variable m to complete the
order reduction and the energy accumulation. This operation
reduces the number of autocorrelations. The GSCFT in (7) and

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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 8, APRIL 15, 2016

estimated as






2,
p = f m /4 , 3, p = f [ m tm ] /4



= arg max  Q sl f [ m tm ] , f m 
( f [m tm ] , f m )

(12)



where 2,
p and 3, p are estimations of the chirp rate and
the quadratic chirp rate for the pth CPS of sl (tm ). arg max
denotes the argument which maximizes. Q sl denotes the result
after applying the proposed estimation algorithm to the sl (tm ).
Step 4) Dechirp sl (tm ) with





3,
2,
p 2
p 3
,
t
t
exp j 2
2 m
6 m

Fig. 2. Anti-noise performance analysis. (a) Input-output SNR comparison.

(b) MSE of the chirp rate estimation. (c) MSE of the quadratic chirp rate
estimation.

the FFT operation in (8) guarantee the coherent accumulation.

Thus, compared to the HAF-ICPF, the SCFT based algorithm
and the GSCFT based algorithm, the proposed algorithm has
a higher anti-noise performance (4 dB). It is worthwhile
noting that, the HAF-ICPF estimate the chirp rate and the
quadratic chirp rate sequentially, so the error propagation
exists. However, the proposed algorithm can estimate the chirp
rate and the quadratic chirp rate simultaneously. Thus, no error
propagation exists, which is the same as the SCFT based
algorithm [28] and the GSCFT based algorithm [31].
For the proposed algorithm, the observed MSEs of the
chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate estimations are plotted
in Figs. 2 (b) and (c) as a function of SNR, respectively.
The corresponding Cramer-Rao bounds (CRBs), which can
be found in [21] and [38], are also shown with the solid line.
Obviously, in Figs. 2 (b) and (c), MSEs of the chirp rate and
the quadratic chirp rate estimations are close to CRBs when
SNR 4 dB, which conform to the result in Fig. 2(a).
Results shown in Figs. 2 (b) and (c) verify the high anti-noise
performance of the proposed algorithm and validate results
shown in Fig. 2(a) also.
IV. ISAR I MAGING A LGORITHM BASED ON
THE P ROPOSED E STIMATION A LGORITHM
In this section, based on the proposed estimation algorithm,
a novel ISAR imaging algorithm is presented for targets with
complex motions. Detail implementation procedures are given
as follows.
Step 1) Complete the range compression, the range
alignment and the phase adjustment of the radar echoes.
Step 2) Extract the data sl (tm ) of the lth (where 1 l L
and L is the number of range cells) range cell.
Step 3) Apply the proposed estimation algorithm to sl (tm ),
and the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate are

and then estimate 1, p and A p via the FFT operation.



D



, = f tm
Ap =
Ntm 1, p




 



3,
2, p 2
p 3


tm
tm
= arg max FFT sl (tm ) exp j 2



2
6
( D, f t )
m

(13)
where D  denote the amplitude of the peak after the FFT.
Step 5) Eliminate the estimated pth CPS from the original
signal sl (tm )
 

1  2 1  3


sl (tm ) = sl (tm ) Ap exp j 2 1,

t
+
t
+
t
p m
2 2, p m 6 3, p m
(14)
Step 6) Repeat steps 3) -5) until the residual signal energy
E is less than E H (saying 5% of the original signal [27][31]),
which is an energy threshold.
Step 7) If l < L, set l = l + 1 and repeat steps 2) -6)
until l = L.
Above is the ISAR imaging algorithm for targets with
complex motions based on the proposed estimation algorithm.
After the parameters estimation, combining with RID technique, we can reconstruct the well-focused ISAR image.
V. V ERIFICATION OF THE P ROPOSED
ISAR I MAGING A LGORITHM
In this subsection, the real radar data of a fluctuating ship
will be used to validate the proposed ISAR imaging algorithm.
The HAF-ICPF based ISAR imaging algorithm [27], the
SCFT based ISAR imaging algorithm [28] and the GSCFT
based ISAR imaging algorithm [31] are selected as comparisons. The shore-based radar works in Ku band with a
bandwidth of 240 MHz and a PRF of 125 Hz. The imaged
fluctuating ship is moving away from the shore-based radar
with a velocity of about 10m/s and the sea surface is a little
rough. For the real radar data utilized in this subsection, the
number of effective echoes Ntm is 250 and the number of the
slant range cells is 400.
After the pulse compression and the motion compensation,
Fig. 3(a) gives the result of the fluctuating ship, where all
scatterers of the fluctuating ship are corrected into right slant
range cells. With the standard RD algorithm, the reconstructed image is given in Fig. 3(b). Obviously, due to the

ZHENG et al.: ISAR IMAGING OF TARGETS WITH COMPLEX MOTIONS

2515

Fig. 3. Processing results of the real radar data. (a) Azimuth echoes after
the pulse compression and the motion compensation. (b) Image reconstructed
with the standard RD algorithm.

Fig. 5. Results of ISAR imaging. (a) Result of the HAF-ICPF based ISAR
imaging algorithm. (b) Result of the SCFT based ISAR imaging algorithm.
(c) Result of the GSCFT based ISAR imaging algorithm. (d) Result of the
proposed ISAR imaging algorithm.

Fig. 4. Simulation results of the extracted real radar data. (a) Wigner-Ville
distribution. (b) Contour of the lag-time and the Doppler frequency distribution. (c) Contour of the lag-time and the quadratic chirp rate distribution.
(d) Contour of the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate distribution.
(e) Stereogram of Fig. 4(d). (f) Standard RD algorithm and the result after
the Doppler spread compensation with the proposed estimation algorithm.

Doppler frequency shift, the standard RD algorithm cannot

reconstruct a well-focused image.
Below, the real radar data of the 180th range cell will be
extracted to validate the CPS model for the real radar data and
the proposed estimation algorithm.
Fig. 4(a) gives the Wigner-Ville distribution of the extracted
real radar data and a curve appears. This curve demonstrates that the azimuth echo of the real radar data has
to be modeled as the polynomial phase signal [31]. After
the parametric autocorrelation function of the extracted real
radar data, we perform the FFT operation along the slow

time axis and obtain the lag-time and the Doppler frequency
distribution in Fig. 4(b), where an inclined line appears.
According to analyses and simulations in [27][31], results
shown in Figs. 4(a) and (b) demonstrate that the azimuth
echo of the fluctuating ship has to be modeled as the CPS.
In order to correct the inclined line into a beeline, the GSCFT
is performed and we obtain the lag-time and the quadratic
chirp rate distribution in Fig. 4(c). Thereafter, we perform
the FFT operation along the lag-time axis of Fig. 4(c) and
the signal energy is accumulated in Fig. 4(d). Fig. 4(e) is the
stereogram of Fig. 4(d). With the peak detection technique,
the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate are estimated
as 2.13 Hz/s and 5.68 Hz/s2 , respectively. By compensating the Doppler spread pertaining to the estimated parameters
and performing an FFT, we complete the energy accumulation
in Fig. 4(e), where the result of the standard RD algorithm is
also shown. Obviously, due to the Doppler spread induced
by the chirp rate and the quadratic chirp rate, the standard
RD algorithm cannot focus the signal energy to the correct Doppler frequency cell. Results of Fig. 4 validate the
CPS model for the real radar data and demonstrate that the
proposed algorithm works well for the real radar data.
In the following, Fig. 5 gives normalized images reconstructed with four ISAR imaging algorithms. The entropy
of (15) is used as a criterion to measure the quality of the
image I (h, n) in Table II [27][31].
E NT =

Ntm
H 


|I (h, n)|2 ln |I (h, n)|2

(15)

h=1 n=1

Obviously, compared to the ISAR image shown in Fig. 3(b)

reconstructed with the standard RD algorithm, images shown
in Fig. 5 reconstructed with these four ISAR imaging
algorithms are improved a lot. This is because these
four ISAR imaging algorithm are based on the parameters

2516

IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 8, APRIL 15, 2016

TABLE II
E NTROPIES OF ISAR I MAGES IN F IG . 5

estimation of the CPS. According to analyses and simulations

above, we know that the proposed estimation algorithm has
a good cross-term suppression and a higher anti-noise performance than the HAF-ICPF, the SCFT based estimation algorithm and the GSCFT based estimation algorithm. Thus, most
scatterers of the fluctuating ship can be relocated correctly
and few spurious scatterers appear in Fig. 5(d), where the
mast, bow, stern and bulk can be easy to discern. Entropies
listed in Table II also demonstrate the superiority of the
proposed ISAR imaging algorithm. Considering the quality of
the reconstructed image and the elimination of the brute-force
searching without the interpolation, we can conclude that the
proposed ISAR imaging algorithm is more practical.
VI. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, we propose a noise-resistant parameter estimation algorithm without nonuniform axis and apply it to
ISAR imaging of targets with complex motions. The noiseresistant parameter estimation algorithm employs a novel
parametric autocorrelation function and the generalized scaled
Fourier transform (GSCFT). Due to the characteristic of the
novel parametric autocorrelation function, the proposed estimation algorithm can use the GSCFT to remove the coupling
and perform the FFT along the uniform lag-time axis to complete the energy accumulation. We analyze the implementation, the cross-term, the computational cost and the anti-noise
performance for this proposed estimation algorithm. Through
simulations and analyses, we demonstrate that, considering the
radar system complexity, the cross-term suppression, the computational cost and the anti-noise performance, the proposed
estimation outperforms other three representative estimation
algorithms. Based on the proposed estimation algorithm, an
ISAR imaging algorithm is proposed for targets with complex
motions.

A PPENDIX
In order to demonstrate the cross-term cannot accumulate as
in (11), characteristics of
 two self-terms

Q sm ,cross f [ m tm ] , fm will be analyzed in this Appendix.
Based on the proposedestimation algorithm,
we can present

the cross-term Q sm ,cross f [ m tm ] , fm as
Q sm ,cross = Q sm ,cross,1 + Q sm ,cross,2 + Q sm ,cross,3
+ Q sm ,cross,4 + Q sm ,cross,5
Let
M1 =
M2 =

1 =

2 =
H1 =

H2 =

=
1 =

(16)


1
3
exp j 2 21,1 + 3,1 
,
3



1
exp j 2 21,2  + 3,2  3 ,
3
1
1
1,1 1,2 + 2,1  + 2,2  + 3,1  2 3,2  2 ,
2
2
1
1
1,2 1,1 + 2,1  + 2,2  + 3,2  2 3,1  2 ,
2
2


1
1
exp j 2 1,1  + 1,2  + 2,1  2 2,2  2
2
2

1
1
+ 3,1  3 3,2  3 ,
6
6


1
1
exp j 2 1,1  + 1,2  + 2,2  2 2,1  2
2
2

1
1
+ 3,1  3 + 3,2  3 ,
6
6

1
3,1 3,2 ,
6

1
2,1 2,2 + 3,1  + 3,2 
2

and

1
2,2 2,1 + 3,1  + 3,2  .
2
Q sm ,cross,1, Q sm ,cross,2, Q sm ,cross,3, Q sm ,cross,4 and
Q sm ,cross,5 can be presented as (17)(19), as shown at the
bottom of this page, (20) and (21), as shown at the top of the
next page.
2 =



Q sm ,cross,1 f [ m tm ] , fm





= FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] A21 A22 H12 exp { j 2 [2
1 m + 41 tm m ]} exp j 2 6tm2 m 2m3



+A21 A22 H22 exp { j 2 [2
2 m + 42 tm m ]} exp j 2 6tm2 m + 2m3


Q sm ,cross,2 f [ m tm ] , f m









= FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] 2 A21 A22 M1 M2 exp j 2 22,1  + 22,2  m + 23,1  + 23,2  tm m

 




cos 2 22,1  22,2  tm + 3,1  3,2  tm2 + m2


Q sm ,cross,3 f [ m tm ] , fm


= FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] 2 A21 A22 H1 H2 exp { j 2 [(
1 +
2 ) m + (21 + 22 ) tm m ]}




 


cos 2 21,1 21,2 + 3,1  2 3,2  2 tm + 2,1 2,2 tm2 + m2 +  6tm m2 + 2tm3

(17)

(18)

(19)

ZHENG et al.: ISAR IMAGING OF TARGETS WITH COMPLEX MOTIONS

2517



Q sm ,cross,4 f[ m tm ] , f m








= FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] 2 A31 A2 H1 M1 exp j 2 22,1  +
1 m + 23,1  + 21 tm m

 

 






exp j 2  m3 + 3tm2 m
cos 2 22,1 
1 tm + 3,1  1 tm2 + m2  tm3 + 3tm m2






+ 2 A31 A2 H2 M1 exp j 2 22,1  +
2 m + 23,1  + 22 tm m

 

 






exp j 2  m3 + 3tm2 m
cos 2 22,1 
2 tm + 3,1  2 tm2 + m2 +  tm3 + 3tm m2
(20)


Q sm ,cross,5 f [ m tm ] , f m








= FFTm GSCFT[ m tm ] 2 A1 A32 H1 M2 exp j 2 22,2  +
1 m + 23,2  + 21 tm m

 




 



cos 2 22,2 
1 tm + 3,2  1 tm2 + m2  tm3 + 3tm m2
exp j 2  m3 + 3tm2 m







+ 2 A1 A32 H2 M2 exp j 2 22,2  +

2 m + 23,2  + 22 tm m

 




 



cos 2 22,2 
2 tm + 3,2  2 tm2 + m2 +  tm3 + 3tm m2
exp j 2  m3 + 3tm2 m
(21)

Based on characteristics of Q sm ,cross,1, Q sm ,cross,2,

Q sm ,cross,3, Q sm ,cross,4 and Q sm ,cross,5, we obtain that,
(1) only when 3,1 = 3,2 , Q sm ,cross,1 can accumulate as
the self-term; (2) only when 2,1 = 2,2 and 3,1 = 3,2 ,
Q sm ,cross,2 can accumulate as the self-term; (3) only when
1,1 = 1,2 , 2,1 = 2,2 and 3,1 = 3,2 , Q sm ,cross,3,
Q sm ,cross,4 and Q sm ,cross,5 can accumulate as the self-term.
In ISAR imaging of targets with complex motions, we know
that, the centroid frequency, the chirp rate and the quadratic
chirp rate of each scatterer are proportional to the corresponding cross-range coordinate and we have 1,1 = 1,2 ,
2,1 = 2,2 and 3,1 = 3,2 [27][31]. Thus, when the
proposed estimation algorithm is applied in ISAR imaging of targets with  complex motions, the cross-term
Q sm ,cross f [ m tm ] , f m cannot accumulate as the self-term.
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Jibin Zheng was born in Shandong, China, in 1986.
He received the B.S. degree in electronic information
science and technology from Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree
in signal and information processing from Xidian
University, Xian, China, in 2015.
He was a Visiting Ph.D. Student with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Duke University,
Durham, NC, USA, from 2012 to 2014. He has
been a Faculty Member with the National Laboratory of Radar Signal Processing, Xidian University,
since 2015. His research interests include synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
and inverse SAR signal processing, cognitive radar, time-frequency analysis,
FPGA IP design, and system-on-chip design.

IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 8, APRIL 15, 2016

Hongwei Liu (M04) received the M.Eng. and

Ph.D. degrees in electronics engineering from Xidian
University, Xian, China, in 1995 and 1999, respectively. From 2001 to 2002, he was a Visiting Scholar
with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
He is currently a Professor and the Director of the
Laboratory of Radar Signal Processing with Xidian
University. His research interests include radar signal processing, radar automatic target recognition,
adaptive signal processing, and cognitive radar.
Guisheng Liao (M96) was born in Guangxi, China.
He received the B.S. degree in mathematics from
Guangxi University, Guangxi, in 1985, and the
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in signal and information
processing from Xidian University, Xian, China,
in 1990 and 1992, respectively.
He is currently a Professor with the National Laboratory of Radar Signal Processing, Xidian University. He has been a Senior Visiting Scholar with the
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. His
research interests include array signal processing,
space-time adaptive processing, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ground moving
target indication, and distributed small satellite SAR system design.
Dr. Liao is a member of the National Outstanding Person and the
Cheung Kong Scholars in China.
Tao Su received the B.S. degree in information
theory, the M.S. degree in mobile communication,
and the Ph.D. degree in signal and information
processing from Xidian University, Xian, China,
in 1990, 1993, and 1999, respectively.
He has been a Faculty Member with Xidian
University since 1993, where he is currently a
Professor with the National Laboratory of Radar Signal Processing. His research interests include highspeed real time signal processing on radar, sonar,
and telecommunications, digital signal processing,
parallel processing system design, and FPGA IP design.
Zheng Liu was born in 1964. He received the
B.S. degree in radio technology from the Shaanxi
Institute of Technology, Xian, China, in 1985, and
the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in signal and information processing from Xidian University, Xian,
in 1991 and 2000, respectively.
He is currently a Professor, the Doctoral Director,
and the Vice Director of the National Laboratory
of Radar Signal Processing with Xidian University.
His research interests include the theory and system
design of radar signal processing, precision guiding
technology, and multisensor data fusion.
Qing
Huo
Liu
(S88M89SM94F05)
received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from
Xiamen University, Fujian, China, in 1983 and 1986,
respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Illinois at
UrbanaChampaign in 1989.
He was with the Electromagnetics Laboratory,
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, as a
Research Assistant from 1986 to 1988, and a
Post-Doctoral
Research
Associate
from
1989 to 1990. He was a Research Scientist and
Program Leader with Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgefield, CT, from
1990 to 1995. From 1996 to 1999, he was an Associate Professor with
New Mexico State University, Albuquerque. Since 1999, he has been
with Duke University, Durham, NC, where he is currently a Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is also a Visiting Professor with
the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His research
interests include computational electromagnetics and acoustics, inverse
problems, geophysical subsurface sensing, biomedical imaging, electronic
packaging, and the simulation of photonic and nanodevices.