The invention discloses a descending track spotlight SAR (
synthetic aperture radar) positioning method based on
image matching. The method has the technical scheme that 1, a
radar positioning geometrical configuration under a NEU coordinate
system is built by using a ground
point target T as an original point, and an SAR imaging image of the target point T on the imaging plane is obtained; 2, an SAR imaging matching graph is obtained by using a
geometric distortion correcting mapping function between the imaging plane and the
ground plane; 3, an affine transform matrix between P matching points and the SAR imaging matching graph and the set SAR imaging reference graph is obtained through an imaging matching
algorithm, and the distance from the target point T and a
sight line point C is obtained by using the affine transform matrix; 4, according to the set sampling frequency, the distance from the
radar to the target point T and the distance from the
radar to the
sight line point C are obtained; 5, the coordinate values of the radar practical position A is calculated according to the results obtained in the steps 3 and 4. The method has the advantages that the precise positioning of a high-squint spotlight SAR can be realized; accurate position information can be provided for radar platform deflection correction.