Polarimetric and interferometric characterization of coherent scatterers in urban areas

• Published in: IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 971 - 984
• Main Authors: Schneider, R.Z., Papathanassiou, K.P., Hajnsek, I., Moreira, A.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.2006; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied geophysics; Azimuth; Cascading style sheets; Coherent scatterers; Coherent scattering; Data mining; Dielectric properties; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Interferometry; Internal geophysics; Object detection; Orientation; orientation angle; polarimetric SAR interferometry; Polarimetry; Radar detection; Radar scattering; Remote sensing; SAR interferometry; SAR polarimetry; Synthetic aperture radar; synthetic aperture radar (SAR); Urban areas; Central Europe; Germany; orientation; polarimetric SAR interferometry; Europe; interferometry; SAR interferometry; SAR polarimetry; dielectric properties; remote sensing; Coherent scatterers; urban areas; synthetic aperture radar; airborne methods; synthetic aperture radar (SAR); high resolution; orientation angle
• ISSN: 0196-2892; 1558-0644
• DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2005.860950

In this paper the concept of point-like coherent scatterers (CSs) in urban areas is introduced. The detection of CSs in single and quad-polarized images is addressed and applied on polarimetric and interferometric high-resolution airborne SAR data at L-band. For the detection of CSs two different approaches are proposed and their individual performance is analyzed. The properties of the detected CSs and their polarimetric and interferometric characteristics are assessed. The role of polarimetry on the detection of the CSs is evaluated and the potential of extracting the orientation and dielectric properties of individual CSs is finally addressed.