An Algorithm to Detect the Presence of 3D Target Motion from ISAR Data

We present an algorithm to detect the presence of 3D target motion from ISAR data. Based on the 3D point scatterer model, we first examine the effect of 3D motion on ISAR imaging. It is shown that existing motion compensation algorithms cannot properly focus targets exhibiting 3D motion during the imaging interval. An algorithm is then derived to blindly detect the degree of 3D target motion from raw radar data. It is based on measuring the linearity of phases between two or more point scatterers on the target. The phase estimation is implemented using the adaptive joint time-frequency technique. Examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the 3D motion detection algorithm with both simulation and real ISAR data. The detection results are corroborated with the truth motion data from on-board motion sensors and correlated with the resulting ISAR images.