Coherent array imaging with sparse arrays

For coherent, phased-array imaging systems, sparse arrays are often used in which the aperture is not completely filled by the array. Often, the data that are not collected by the array are set to zero and an image is obtained through a straight-forward Fourier inversion. An alternative technique-based on the method of maximum-likelihood estimation from incomplete data-is discussed for handling the missing data and forming images from data acquired by a coherent imaging system with a sparse array