Comparison of Fourier and maximum entropy techniques for high‐resolution scattering studies

In this paper, the problem of the high-accuracy estimation of the location of specular scattering centers on electromagnetic scatterers is considered. Two techniques are compared. The first technique utilizes a Gaussian-window, Gaussian-fit approach. The second technique utilizes maximum entropy spectral estimation. It is shown that an improvement over the classical accuracy of the Fourier transform of a factor of 10 or better is possible for widely spaced scatterers utilizing either technique. For cosely spaced specular scatterers, the maximum entropy algorithm can provide information well beyond the resolution of the Fourier transform.