ISAR imaging of moving targets via the Gabor wavelet transform

We describe an approach for Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging based on the Gabor wavelet transform. The Gabor basis function introduces three signal parameters which allow the components of a target signature to be mapped into a three-dimensional domain. Time: range, and frequency constitute the dimensions of this domain. Component distribution over the range and frequency dimensions corresponds to a snap shot of the target's scattering centers at a particular observation time. The snap shot resolution can be adjusted in each dimension by properly selecting the Gabor wavelet parameters. Parameter selection: as discussed in this paper: is used to minimize the quadratic phase distortion associated with moving target components. For multiple targets experiencing different velocities. selective motion compensation is incorporated to the Gabor wavelet transform approach, thus yielding focused imagery.