Visualization of ultra wide bandwidth synthetic aperture radar (UWB SAR) data involves mapping from a high dynamic range amplitude values to the gray values of a lower dynamic range display device. This step is vital in the processing of UWB SAR images. However

traditional visual methods are unsuitable for the processing of UWB SAR images because these methods do not consider the characters of UWB SAR and because these methods require long processing time. To compress the UWB SAR data dynamic range in a shorter time

a new fast visualization method based on screening data for UWB SAR images is proposed. In the new method

the distribution of low frequency UWB SAR data and gray-value images is first discussed to obtain easily the reasonable distribution model for UWB SAR images. A 3 measurement and amend mapping function are used to screen the image data. Therefore

the high dynamic range of amplitude values is compressed in a small dynamic range. The quality of UWB SAR images should be evaluated to determine which image is convenient for the human visual system to obtain more geographic information. The proposed method costs less time compared with the original method

and the performance indicators of the former are better than that of the latter. The dark pixels are also stretched appropriately

and the bright details are preserved. Moreover

the images handled by the new method are suitable for the human visual system. Therefore

this method will have a major role in the real-time processing of UWB SAR image data.