Processing all of these pulses together results in a high resolution image. Because of the number of computations required to form the image, a multi-processor system is required to produce the result in a reasonable amount of time. Collect data that will be used in the processing. Going along the range axis the data originates from locations farther from the vehicle along a single pulse. Going along the azimuth axis represents successive pulses as the vehicle moves.
Image formation begins by processing in the azimuth direction.
In order to maximize performance, each row of data in the azimuth direction should be contiguous in a single processor. Unfortunately, the data from the radar arrives in range order, so before processing can start the data must be re-arranged in order to maximize performance. The result is that each processor has a stripe of the data in the azimuth direction to be processed. The processors can now do a portion of the math. The next stage of processing involves going in the range direction.