Image reconstruction from frequency-offset Fourier data

Motivated by the ability of synthetic-aperture radar and related imaging systems to produce images of surprisingly high quality, we consider the problem of reconstructing the magnitude of a complex signal f from samples of the Fourier transform of f located in a small region offset from the origin. It is shown that high-quality speckle reconstructions are possible so long as the phase of f is highly random. In this case, the quality of the reconstruction is insensitive to the location of the known Fourier data, and edges at all orientations are reproduced equally well. A large number of computer examples are presented demonstrating these attributes. Methods for improving image quality are also briefly discussed.