SAR imaging in automotive scenarios

The principal element of interest concerning the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology in the automotive scenario is the possibility to synthesize an arbitrarily long array by exploiting the natural motion of the ego-vehicle, and therefore achieve much finer spatial resolution and improved detection capabilities without increasing hardware requirements in terms of number of physical antennas. In this paper, we discuss the application of SAR imaging in the automotive context under a theoretical and experimental perspective. Experimental results are shown based on open road campaign data acquired using an 8-channel Radar at 77 GHz, considering the cases of side-looking SAR, forward SAR, and SAR imaging of moving targets. Results corroborate the idea that SAR imaging could be successfully and systematically used in the near future for high-resolution mapping of the urban environment.