A method and system for generating images from projection data comprising inputting first values representing correlated positional and recorded data; forming an image by processing the projection data utilizing a pixel characterization imaging subsystem to form the SAR imagery utilizing one of a back-projection algorithm or range migration algorithm; integrating positional and recorded data from many aperture positions, comprising: forming the complete aperture A0 comprising collecting the return radar data, the coordinates of the receiver, and the coordinates of the transmitter for each position k along the aperture of N positions; forming an imaging grid comprising M image pixels; selecting and removing a substantial number of aperture positions to form a sparse aperture Aifor L iterations; classifying each pixel in the image into target class based on the statistical distribution of its amplitude across L iterations; otherwise, the pixel is given the value of zero.