We discuss the coherent interferometric imaging strategy in the context of synthetic aperture radar, in which a single antenna is used as an emitter and as a receiver at successive positions along a trajectory. The theoretical analysis shows that the signal-to-noise ratio can be enhanced compared to the standard matched filter processing when the fluctuations of the recorded signals have a spatial correlation (along the antenna trajectory) that is larger than the distance between two successive positions of the antenna and smaller than the length of the antenna trajectory. We discuss how how a cluttered propagation medium can lead to such a situation.
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