Dedicated SAR simulation tools for ATR and scene analysis

At Fraunhofer IOSB the SAR simulator suite CohRaSS (Coherent Raytracing SAR Simulator) dedicated to different, sometimes contradictory purposes is being developed. These include the simulation of very large scenes at high resolution for scene analysis purposes, the simulation of large quantities of training chips for classification and the very fast but less realistic simulation of scenes for use in the training of image analysts. These tasks have very different requirements for the simulation that cannot be met by one single program. Thus different, custom-tailored approaches for each of these tasks are being developed. This paper deals with the main aspects concerning the simulation of training chips for ATR and the simulation of large scenes at very high resolution. Special focus is set on the different approaches used for these tasks from a computational point of view. For both simulators, sample simulated images are shown.