Patent ID: 7301495

Claim:
A radar for generating a synthetic aperture image from an incomplete sequence of periodic pulse returns, said incomplete sequence of periodic pulse returns having one or more missing pulses, said image containing scatterers, said radar comprising: an analog to digital converter for converting said incomplete sequence of pulse returns into a digital stream; a computer for processing said digital stream by computing: an along track Fourier transform to obtain a first result; a range compression using said first result to obtain a second result; an azimuth deskew using said second result to obtain a third result; and an image restoration and auto focus using said third result to obtain said synthetic aperture image, said image restoration and autofocus computing a low order autofocus, a gap interpolation using a Burg algorithm and a high order autofocus thereby generating an interpolated sequence wherein said interpolated sequence has a complete sequence of periodic pulse returns with uniform spacing for generating said synthetic aperture image.