Bayesian Spatial Partitioning with Feature Fusion for Wide-Beam SAR Altimeter Localization Using Delay-Doppler Maps

Terrain-aided navigation (TAN) enables autonomous positioning through fusing prior terrain databases with real-time sensor measurements in GNSS-denied environments. Typical factors, including wide beam width and terrain elevation variations, introduce inaccuracies in elevation measurements, degrading the performance of classical elevation-based TAN methods. The SAR altimeter operates in nadir-looking mode to acquire range–Doppler projection images with inherent cross-track ambiguity for positioning based on image information, yet its accuracy is limited by single-feature and fixed-grid approaches. In this paper, we introduce an adaptive positioning framework for the SAR altimeter that combines XGBoost-based multi-feature fusion with Bayesian particle filtering. First, a fast DDM template generation algorithm is employed to improve computational efficiency. Then, an ensemble learning framework integrating complementary similarity features is introduced to achieve robust single-frame matching. Additionally, a Bayesian filtering-based dynamic grid construction method is developed to concentrate particles in high-probability regions, eliminating boundary truncation errors inherent to fixed approaches. The proposed method’s primary advantage is the reliable three-dimensional localization under extreme radar configurations, such as wide beam width and high-altitude maneuvering platforms. Experimental results based on both simulated and real data validate the method, demonstrating superior positioning performance under wide-beam conditions.