A robust nonlinear scale space change detection approach for SAR images

In this paper, we propose a change detection approach based on nonlinear scale space analysis of change images for robust detection of various changes incurred by natural phenomena and/or human activities in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images using Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSERs). To achieve this, a variant of the log-ratio image of multitemporal images is calculated which is followed by Feature Preserving Despeckling (FPD) to generate nonlinear scale space images exhibiting different trade-offs in terms of speckle reduction and shape detail preservation. MSERs of each scale space image are found and then combined through a decision level fusion strategy, namely "selective scale fusion" (SSF), where contrast and boundary curvature of each MSER are considered. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using real multitemporal high resolution TerraSAR-X images and synthetically generated multitemporal images composed of shapes with several orientations, sizes, and backscatter amplitude levels representing a variety of possible signatures of change. One of the main outcomes of this approach is that different objects having different sizes and levels of contrast with their surroundings appear as stable regions at different scale space images thus the fusion of results from scale space images yields a good overall performance

On the use of the l(2)-norm for texture analysis of polarimetric SAR data

In this paper, the use of the l2-norm, or Span, of the scattering vectors is suggested for texture analysis of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, with the benefits that we need neither an analysis of the polarimetric channels separately nor a filtering of the data to analyze the statistics. Based on the product model, the distribution of the l2-norm is studied. Closed expressions of the probability density functions under the assumptions of several texture distributions are provided. To utilize the statistical properties of the l2-norm, quantities including normalized moments and log-cumulants are derived, along with corresponding estimators and estimation variances. Results on both simulated and real SAR data show that the use of statistics based on the l2-norm brings advantages in several aspects with respect to the normalized intensity moments and matrix variate log-cumulants.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Electromagnetic Scattering and Statistic Analysis of Clutter from Oil Contaminated Sea Surface

In order to investigate the electromagnetic (EM) scattering characteristics of the three dimensional sea surface contaminated by oil, a rigorous numerical method multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) is developed to preciously calculate the electromagnetic backscatter from the two-layered oil contaminated sea surface. Illumination window and resistive window are combined together to depress the edge current induced by artificial truncation of the sea surface. By using this combination, the numerical method can get a high efficiency at a less computation cost. The differences between backscatters from clean sea and oil contaminated sea are investigated with respect to various incident angles and sea states. Also, the distribution of the sea clutter is examined for the oil-spilled cases in this paper

Velocity Dealiased Spectral Estimators of Range Migrating Targets using a Single Low-PRF Wideband Waveform

Wideband radars are promising systems that may provide numerous advantages, like simultaneous detection of slow and fast moving targets, high range-velocity resolution classification, and electronic countermeasures. Unfortunately, classical processing algorithms are challenged by the range-migration phenomenon that occurs then for fast moving targets. We propose a new approach where the range migration is used rather as an asset to retrieve information about target velocitiesand, subsequently, to obtain a velocity dealiased mode. More specifically three new complex spectral estimators are devised in case of a single low-PRF (pulse repetition frequency) wideband waveform. The new estimation schemes enable one to decrease the level of sidelobes that arise at ambiguous velocities and, thus, to enhance the discrimination capability of the radar. Synthetic data and experimental data are used to assess the performance of the proposed estimators