Abstract: A method (100) for coherent change subtraction of mission and reference synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data (20′,20″) is provided. The method (100) forms (102) mission and reference images (22′,22″) from the mission and reference SAR data (20′,20″), registers (122) the mission and reference images (22′,22″) on a common plane to form registered mission and reference images (24′,24″), and forms (124) the registered mission and reference images (24′,24″) into at least one patch (26) containing mission and reference data (28′,28″). The method (100) then processes (126) each patch (26) by removing (130) linear phase terms (34) from the mission data (28′), trimming (142) non-overlapping spectra of the mission and reference data (28′,28″), and balancing (144) phases and amplitudes of the mission data (28′).

Abstract: A method (100) for coherent change subtraction of mission and reference synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data (20′,20″) is provided. The method (100) forms (102) mission and reference images (22′,22″) from the mission and reference SAR data (20′,20″), registers (122) the mission and reference images (22′,22″) on a common plane to form registered mission and reference images (24′,24″), and forms (124) the registered mission and reference images (24′,24″) into at least one patch (26) containing mission and reference data (28′,28″). The method (100) then processes (126) each patch (26) by removing (130) linear phase terms (34) from the mission data (28′), trimming (142) non-overlapping spectra of the mission and reference data (28′,28″), and balancing (144) phases and amplitudes of the mission data (28′).

Abstract: Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data (118) of a target (108) is collected (12) over a substantially circular arc (128), wherein a.chord (130) of the arc (128) establishes (20) a radar aperture (102) having a substantially perpendicular construct baseline (104) through the target (108). The radar aperture (102) is partitioned (26) into first and second partial apertures (120) having substantially the construct baseline (104). First and second points (150) substantially vertically coincident with the construct baseline (104) are then determined (38) at means (152) of the first and second partial apertures (120), and first and second vectors (106) from the target (108) are established (40) by the first and second points (150), respectively. First and second portions (148) of the SAR data (118) are accumulated (32) over the first and second partial apertures (120), respectively, and first and second vector complex image data (164) of the target (108) is derived (54) in response thereto.