# MIMO-SAR: A Hierarchical High-resolution Imaging Algorithm for mmWave FMCW Radar in Autonomous Driving

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.09293 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.09293/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 22 Jan 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [DART: Implicit Doppler Tomography for Radar Novel View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03896/) (2024)
- [Towards Foundational Models for Single-Chip Radar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.12482/) (2025)
- [Learning to Detect Open Carry and Concealed Object with 77GHz Radar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.00551/) (2021)
- [Cause-and-Effect Analysis of ADAS: A Comparison Study between Literature Review and Complaint Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.00249/) (2022)
- [Learning for Semantic Knowledge Base-Guided Online Feature Transmission in Dynamic Channels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.18316/) (2023)
- [Toward AI standardization: A triadic human-ai collaboration framework for multi-level autonomous mobility](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.19120/) (2025)
- [Towards Seeing Bones at Radio Frequency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.17979/) (2025)
- [GRADE: Single-Frame Generative Radar Depth Estimation Under Visual Degradation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.10756/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Millimeter-wave radars are being increasingly integrated into commercial vehicles to support advanced driver-assistance system features. A key shortcoming for present-day vehicular radar imaging is poor azimuth resolution (for side-looking operation) due to the form factor limits on antenna size and placement. In this paper, we propose a solution via a new multiple-input and multiple-output synthetic aperture radar (MIMO-SAR) imaging technique, that applies coherent SAR principles to vehicular MIMO radar to improve the side-view (angular) resolution. The proposed 2-stage hierarchical MIMO-SAR processing workflow drastically reduces the computation load while preserving image resolution. To enable coherent processing over the synthetic aperture, we integrate a radar odometry algorithm that estimates the trajectory of ego-radar. The MIMO-SAR algorithm is validated by both simulations and real experiment data collected by a vehicle-mounted radar platform.