Radar video creation apparatus and method

• US 10,495,749 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2016
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Yamaoka, Tomoya, Suwa, Kei
• Primary Examiner(s): Bythrow, Peter M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Justice, Michael W
• Application Number:
  US15/554,868
• Publication Number:
  US 20180045825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/90 using synthetic aperture techniques , e.g. synthetic aperture radar [SAR] techniques

Abstract

There are provided an azimuth Fourier transform unit that transforms a SAR image into components in a Doppler frequency band, a band cutting-out unit that cuts out sub-band components from the components in the Doppler frequency band, and an azimuth inverse Fourier transform unit that transforms the sub-band components into sub-images, respectively. An image reconstructing unit extracts, for each area irradiated with a beam, a pixel sequence corresponding to the irradiated area from each of the sub-images, and collects the plurality of extracted pixel sequences to construct images for video.

Claims

1. A radar video creation apparatus comprising:

a processor to execute a program; and

a memory to store the program which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of;

transforming a synthetic aperture radar image into components in a Doppler frequency band, the synthetic aperture radar image being created from observed data of a radar apparatus;

cutting out a plurality of series of sub-band components from the transformed components in the Doppler frequency band;

respectively transforming the cut-out plurality of series of sub-band components into a plurality of time-domain images;

extracting, for each area irradiated with a beam by the radar apparatus, a pixel sequence corresponding to the irradiated area from each of the transformed plurality of time-domain images, and collecting the plurality of extracted pixel sequences to construct images for video; and

playing back the images for video in turn, the images for video being constructed for the respective areas irradiated with a beam,

wherein the processor calculates from a bandwidth of the sub-band components an observation time difference between adjacent sub-band components, and determines a frame rate from an inverse of the observation time difference for use in playing back the images for video.

2. The radar video creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor creates a synthetic aperture radar image by performing a synthetic aperture process on data, and outputs the synthetic aperture radar image for the process of transforming the synthetic aperture radar image, the data being observed in stripmap mode or sliding spotlight mode by the radar apparatus.

3. The radar video creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor cuts out the plurality of series of sub-band components from the components in the Doppler frequency band transformed in such a manner that frequency bands of the adjacent sub-band components partially overlap each other.

4. A radar video creation apparatus comprising:

a processor to execute a program; and

a memory to store the program which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of;

transforming a synthetic aperture radar image into components in a Doppler frequency band, the synthetic aperture radar image being created from observed data of a radar apparatus;

cutting out a plurality of series of sub-band components from the transformed components in the Doppler frequency band;

respectively transforming the cut-out plurality of series of sub-band components into a plurality of time-domain images as images for video; and

playing back the images for video in turn, the images for video being the transformed plurality of time-domain images,

wherein the processor calculates from a bandwidth of the sub-band components an observation time difference between adjacent sub-band components, and determines a frame rate from an inverse of the observation time difference for use in playing back the images for video.

5. The radar video creation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processor creates a synthetic aperture radar image by performing a synthetic aperture process on data, and outputs the synthetic aperture radar image for the process of transforming the synthetic aperture radar image, the data being observed in spotlight mode by the radar apparatus.

6. The radar video creation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processor cuts out the plurality of series of sub-band components from the components in the Doppler frequency band transformed in such a manner that frequency bands of the adjacent sub-band components partially overlap each other.

7. A radar video creation method comprising:

transforming a synthetic aperture radar image into components in a Doppler frequency band, the synthetic aperture radar image being created from observed data of a radar apparatus;

cutting out a plurality of series of sub-band components from the transformed components in the Doppler frequency band;

transforming the cut-out plurality of series of sub-band components into a plurality of time-domain images, respectively;

extracting, for each area irradiated with a beam by the radar apparatus, a pixel sequence corresponding to the irradiated area from each of the transformed plurality of time-domain images, and collecting the plurality of extracted pixel sequences to construct images for video; and

playing back the images for video in turn, the images for video being the transformed plurality of time-domain images, wherein an observation time difference between adjacent sub-band components are calculated from a bandwidth of the sub-band components, and a frame rate is determined from an inverse of the observation time difference for use in playing back the images for video.

8. A radar video creation method comprising:

transforming a synthetic aperture radar image into components in a Doppler frequency band, the synthetic aperture radar image being created from observed data of a radar apparatus;

cutting out a plurality of series of sub-band components from the transformed components in the Doppler frequency band;

transforming the cut-out plurality of series of sub-band components into a plurality of time-domain images as images for video, respectively; and

playing back the images for video in turn, the images for video being the transformed plurality of time-domain images, wherein an observation time difference between adjacent sub-band components are calculated from a bandwidth of the sub-band components, and a frame rate is determined from an inverse of the observation time difference for use in playing back the images for video.