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Spatial Frequency

This document discusses the relationship between temporal frequency, range spatial frequency, and cross-range spatial frequency in radar imaging. It shows that range spatial frequency (Fr) is related to temporal frequency (F) by Fr = 2F/c, and that the Fourier transform of the range profile is equivalent to the spectrum expressed in range spatial frequency units. It also describes how range spatial frequency relates to range resolution and sampling, and how cross-range spatial frequency relates to the angle of a target from the radar flight path.

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142 views4 pages

Spatial Frequency

This document discusses the relationship between temporal frequency, range spatial frequency, and cross-range spatial frequency in radar imaging. It shows that range spatial frequency (Fr) is related to temporal frequency (F) by Fr = 2F/c, and that the Fourier transform of the range profile is equivalent to the spectrum expressed in range spatial frequency units. It also describes how range spatial frequency relates to range resolution and sampling, and how cross-range spatial frequency relates to the angle of a target from the radar flight path.

Uploaded by

naivedya_mishra
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Relationship Between Temporal and Spatial Frequency in Radar Imaging

Mark A. Richards
July 7, 2007

1 Spatial Frequency of EM Waves


Propagating electromagnetic (EM) waves of interest in radar vary sinusoidally in both time and frequency. If the radar frequency is F Hz (cycles/sec), then the temporal period observed at a fixed point in space is 1/F = T seconds. Assume the propagation is in the y direction in Cartesian spatial coordinates. The wavelength is = c/F meters (or meters/cycle), where c is the speed of light. The spatial frequency of the same EM wave is then 1/ = F/c cycles/m, which we will denote as Fy (there seems to be no commonlyagreed symbol for spatial frequency in cyclical units). It is more common to consider the spatial frequency in units of radians/m, 2/ = 2F/c; this is usually denoted with the symbol ky and called the wavenumber. I prefer to use the cyclical units. I also prefer to use upper case Ky for wavenumber and reserve the lower case ky for normalized frequencies.

2 Temporal Fourier Transform


Using cyclical units (i.e., Hz instead of rads/s), the Fourier transform X(F) of a time function x(t) is given by
X (F ) =
j 2 Ft dt x (t ) e

(1)

and the inverse transform is


x (t ) =
+ j 2 Ft dF X (F )e

(2)

3 Time-Range Equivalence and the Spatial Fourier Transform


Range R and time delay t are related in monostatic radar according to [1]

t=

2R c

(3)

Suppose x(t) is the output of a radar receiver as a function of time; we can use (3) to relabel the time axis in units of range, giving a range profile of the scene viewed by the
Temporal and Spatial Frequency in Radar Imaging Page 1 of 4 July 7, 2007

radar. We would like to have a relationship between the range profile and a spectrum expressed in spatial frequency units. Using the relationship (3), we can re-write (1) as

2 R j 4 RF c 2 X (F ) = x dR e c c

(4)

Note that the quantity 4RF/c often appears as 4/, but we will leave it in terms of frequency here. Now define

 ( R) = x The integral in (4) is now

2 2R x c c

(5)

 ( R ) e j 2 ( 2 F c ) R dR x

(6)

Note that this is exactly of the form of a Fourier transform (compare to Eq. (1)) of a function of range R provided we identify the quantity 2F/c as the range frequency variable Fr. That is,
 (F ) = X r

 ( R ) e j 2 F R dR x
r

(7)

To emphasize, the range frequency variable Fr in m-1 or cycles/m is related to temporal frequency F in s-1 or cycles/s (Hz) according to
Fr m-1 = 2 F s-1 c (8)

Note that range frequency Fr is not the same as spatial frequency Fy. In particular, Fr = 2Fy.

4 Consequences
Equation (7) shows that a range profile forms a Fourier transform pair with a spectrum expressed in range frequency units. This means that we can reason about signal properties such as relationships between bandwidth and resolution, sampling and aliasing, and so forth using the same rules that apply to temporal signals and their Fourier transforms. In particular,

Temporal and Spatial Frequency in Radar Imaging

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July 7, 2007

Analogous to the fact that a resolution of t seconds requires a signal bandwidth of F = 1/t Hz, a range resolution of R m requires a range frequency bandwidth of 1/R cycles/m. Note that the range frequency bandwidth of 1/R is equivalent to c/2R Hz in temporal units, which is the usual formula relating range resolution to temporal frequency bandwidth [1]. Sampling a range profile at intervals of R m will cause its range frequency spectrum to replicate at intervals of 1/R cycles/m in range frequency. If a signal has a range frequency bandwidth of Br cycles/m, the Nyquist theorem requires a sampling rate of at least Br samples/m, corresponding to a sampling interval of 1/Br m, to avoid aliasing. If a range frequency spectrum is sampled at an interval Fr in range frequency (for instance, through computation of a discrete Fourier transform), the range profile will be replicated at intervals of 1/Fr m in range. Thus, the spectrum of a range profile of length Rmax m should be sampled in range frequency at intervals of 1/Rmax or less to avoid aliasing.

5 Cross-Range Spatial Frequency


In [1], Eq. 8.34, it is shown that the cross-range spatial frequency Kcr (denoted Ku in [1]) is given by (4/)(x/R) rads/m, where R is range from the radar to the scatterer and x is the cross-range displacement of the scatterer relative to the normal to the radar flight path, as shown in Fig. 1. In cyclical units, then, the spatial frequency is (2/)(x/R) cycles/m. Note that x/R =sin, where is the angle of the scatterer relative to the normal to the boresight. For small angles, sin . Thus, we get the conversion from angle to cross-range spatial frequency in cycles/m or m-1 Fcr = 2

(9)

Spatial resolution, replication interval, and sampling can be reasoned about in terms of cross-range spatial frequency Fcr in the same manner as described above for range spatial frequency Fr.

Temporal and Spatial Frequency in Radar Imaging

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July 7, 2007

x R

target

direction of flight

Figure 1. Geometry for cross-range spatial frequency.

6 References
[1] M. A. Richards, Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2005.

Temporal and Spatial Frequency in Radar Imaging

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July 7, 2007

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