Most of the current SAR systems aquire fully polarimetric data where the obtained scattering information can
be represented by various coherent and incoherent parameters. In previous contributions we reviewed these
parameters in terms of their "utility" for landcover classification, here, we investigate their impact on several
classification algoritms. Three classifiers: the minimum-distance classifier, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and
one based on logistic regression (LR) were applied on an L-Band scene acquired by the E-SAR sensor. MLP
and LR were chosen because they are robust w.r.t. the data statistics. An interesting result is that MLP gives
better results on the coherent parameters while LR gives better results on the incoherent parameters.
In this contribution, we present a study on a series of representations of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, testing and comparing them with respect to their utility for land cover classification. Different classification algorithms are also compared. Part of this work is dedicated to the study of the dependence of the classification results on the varying size of averaging windows of pixels. Such an analysis will permit to prove if the polarimetric parameters under consideration describe only point-like physical properties of the targets or if they also contain "extended" local information. The final goal is to provide an objective estimate of the usefulness of these parameters.
This paper reports about the status of the actual performance prediction and some selected investigations within the system engineering for the TerraSAR-X satellite, which will be implemented in a Public-Private-Partnership between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the ASTRIUM GmbH. The main sensor parameters and modes of operation are summarized. Image simulations based on X-band data from the E-SAR sensor of DLR give an impression on the expected image quality with respect to geometric and radiometric resolution. Different realization possibilities for the dual polarization mode are investigated and the actual baseline for this mode is described. The potential of two independent receiving channels is analyzed and the paper reports about possible additional features as investigated so far.
Classification of Earth surface using SAR observations constitutes an important application of polarimetric SAR. The most promising and investigated polarimetric parameters for such a task have been the Entropy, alpha and Anisotropy (H, α and A) parameters. A similar use of coherent methods, however, appears to have been scarcely considered and remained essentially untested. In this contribution, we wish to address this issue, testing and comparing a wide range of polarimetric SAR parameters, coherent and incoherent, by means of different classification algorithms.
An original aspect of this work is also the study of the dependence of the classification results on the varying size of averaging windows of pixels. Such an analysis will permit to prove if the chosen polarimetric parameters provide a description only of "point-like" physical properties of the targets or if they also contain "extended", local information. The investigations to be reported should, therefore, not only reveal a systematic and quantitative assessment of the classification efficacy of different methodologies but also afford their comparison, an exercise, hitherto unavailable in the literature in common knowledge.
The application of interferometric techniques to polarimetric SAR data is a relative new and promising research field. Noteworthy examples of its potential have been reported by Cloude and Papathanassiou for the retrieval of forests height. In general, polarimetric analysis approaches have been considered for optimizing the interferometric coherence, mainly in order to improve the generation of digital elevation models. In this paper, we will present the first results that we obtained by combining interferometric analysis with coherent target decomposition methods (in particular, the one proposed by Krogager); the different coherence properties of target models will be investigated and a provisional evaluation of the usefulness of this approach will be given.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.