SAR-GS: Gaussian Splatting based SAR Images Rendering and Target Reconstruction

TL;DR

This paper introduces SDGR, a novel differentiable rasterizer based on Gaussian splatting tailored for SAR image rendering and 3D target reconstruction, effectively handling complex scattering mechanisms.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new SAR-specific Gaussian splatting method with a custom CUDA gradient flow, enabling accurate 3D reconstruction from SAR imagery, inspired by optical domain techniques.

Findings

Successfully reconstructs geometric structures of targets

Validates effectiveness on simulated and real SAR datasets

Achieves accurate scattering property modeling

Abstract

Three-dimensional target reconstruction from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is crucial for interpreting complex scattering information in SAR data. However, the intricate electromagnetic scattering mechanisms inherent to SAR imaging pose significant reconstruction challenges. Inspired by the remarkable success of 3D Gaussian Splatting (3D-GS) in optical domain reconstruction, this paper presents a novel SAR Differentiable Gaussian Splatting Rasterizer (SDGR) specifically designed for SAR target reconstruction. Our approach combines Gaussian splatting with the Mapping and Projection Algorithm to compute scattering intensities of Gaussian primitives and generate simulated SAR images through SDGR. Subsequently, the loss function between the rendered image and the ground truth image is computed to optimize the Gaussian primitive parameters representing the scene, while a custom CUDA gradient flow is employed to replace automatic differentiation for accelerated gradient computation. Through experiments involving the rendering of simplified architectural targets and SAR images of multiple vehicle targets, we validate the imaging rationality of SDGR on simulated SAR imagery. Furthermore, the effectiveness of our method for target reconstruction is demonstrated on both simulated and real-world datasets containing multiple vehicle targets, with quantitative evaluations conducted to assess its reconstruction performance. Experimental results indicate that our approach can effectively reconstruct the geometric structures and scattering properties of targets, thereby providing a novel solution for 3D reconstruction in the field of SAR imaging.