Abstract: Circular trace stripmap synthetic aperture radar (CTS-SAR) is a new operation mode presented recently, compared with linear trace stripmap SAR and staring SAR, it’s similar to them. However, it shows some unique features. The geometry correlation and work principle of CTS-SAR are deduced and analyzed. After analyzing the moving characteristics of airplane, a noval imageing algorithm with motion compensation for CTS-SAR is proposed. The impace of motion errors and imaging performance of this algorithm is analyzed. Finally, the results of computer simulation and real data processing validate the analyzed results and the imaging method.