Polarimetric Incoherent Target Decomposition by Means of Independent Component Analysis

International audienceThis paper presents an alternative approach for polarimetric incoherent target decomposition dedicated to the analysis of very-high resolution POLSAR images. Given the non-Gaussian nature of the heterogeneous POLSAR clutter due to the increase of spatial resolution, the conventional methods based on the eigenvector target decomposition can ensure uncorrelation of the derived backscattering components at most. By introducing the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) in lieu of the eigenvector decomposition, our method is rather deriving statistically independent components. The adopted algorithm - FastICA, uses the non-Gaussianity of the components as the criterion for their independence. Considering the eigenvector decomposition as being analogues to the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we propose the generalization of the ICTD methods to the level of the Blind Source Separation (BSS) techniques (comprising both PCA and ICA). The proposed method preserves the invariance properties of the conventional ones, appearing to be robust both with respect to the rotation around the line of sight and to the change of the polarization basis. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated comparatively, using POLSAR Ramses X-band and ALOS L-band data sets. The main differences with respect to the conventional methods are mostly found in the behaviour of the second most dominant component, which is not necessarily orthogonal to the first one. The potential of retrieving non-orthogonal mechanisms is moreover demonstrated using synthetic data. On expense of a negligible entropy increase, the proposed method is capable of retrieving the edge diffraction of an elementary trihedral by recognizing dipole as the second component

SAR-SHARPENING IN THE KENNAUGH FRAMEWORK APPLIED TO THE FUSION OF MULTI-MODAL SAR AND OPTICAL IMAGES

The Kennaugh framework turned out to be a powerful tool for the preparation of multi-sensor SAR data during the last years. Using intensity-based (an-) isotropic diffusion algorithms like the Multi-scale Multi-looking or the Schmittlets, even robust pre-classification change detection from multi-polarized images is enabled. The only missing point so far, namely the integration of multi-mode SAR data in one image, is accomplished in this article. Furthermore, the Kennaugh decomposition is extended to multi-spectral data as well. Hence, arbitrary Kennaugh elements, be it from SAR or optical images, can be fused. The mathematical description of the most general image fusion is derived and applied to four scenarios. The validation section considers the distribution of mean and gradient in the original and the fused images by the help of scatter plots. The results prove that the fused images adopt the spatial gradient of the input image with a higher geometric resolution and preserve the local mean of the input image with a higher polarimetric and thus also radiometric resolution. Regarding the distribution of the entropy and alpha angle, the fused images are always characterized by a higher variance in the entropy-alpha-plane and therewith, a higher resolution in the polarimetric domain. The proposed algorithm guarantees optimal information integration while ensuring the separation of intensity and polarimetric/spectral information. The Kennaugh framework is ready now to be used for the sharpening of multi-sensor image data in the spatial, radiometric, polarimetric, and even spectral domain

Ocean Remote Sensing with Synthetic Aperture Radar

The ocean covers approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface, 90% of the biosphere and contains 97% of Earth’s water. The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can image the ocean surface in all weather conditions and day or night. SAR remote sensing on ocean and coastal monitoring has become a research hotspot in geoscience and remote sensing. This book—Progress in SAR Oceanography—provides an update of the current state of the science on ocean remote sensing with SAR. Overall, the book presents a variety of marine applications, such as, oceanic surface and internal waves, wind, bathymetry, oil spill, coastline and intertidal zone classification, ship and other man-made objects’ detection, as well as remotely sensed data assimilation. The book is aimed at a wide audience, ranging from graduate students, university teachers and working scientists to policy makers and managers. Efforts have been made to highlight general principles as well as the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of SAR Oceanography

Averaged Stokes Vector Based Polarimetric SAR Data Interpretation

In this paper, we propose a new polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data interpretation method based on a locally averaged Stokes vector. We first propose a method to extract discriminators from all three components of the averaged Stokes vector. Based on the extracted discriminators, we build four physical interpretation layers with ascending priorities, i.e., the basic structure layer, the low-coherence targets layer, the man-made targets layer, and the low-backscattering targets layer. An intuitive final image can be generated by simply stacking the four layers in the priority order. We test the performance of the proposed method over Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array type L-band SAR (ALOS-PALSAR) data. Experimental results show that the proposed method has high interpretation performance, particularly for skew-aligned or randomly distributed buildings and isolated man-made targets such as bridges

New target detector based on geometrical perturbation filters for polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (POL-SAR)

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an active microwave remote sensing system able to acquire high resolution images of the scattering behaviour of an observed scene. The contribution of SAR polarimetry (POLSAR) in detection and classification of objects is described and found to add valuable information compared to previous approaches. In this thesis, a new target detection/classification methodology is developed that makes novel use of the polarimetric information of the backscattered field from a target. The detector is based on a geometrical perturbation filter which correlates the target of interest with its perturbed version. Specifically, the operation is accomplished with a polarimetric coherence representing a weighted and normalised inner product between the target and its perturbed version, where the weights are extracted from the observables. The mathematical formulation is general and can be applied to any deterministic (point) target. However, in this thesis the detection is primarily focused on multiple reflections and oriented dipoles due to their extensive availability in common scenarios. An extensive validation against real data is provided exploiting different datasets. They include one airborne system: E-SAR L-band (DLR, German Aerospace Centre); and three satellite systems: ALOS-PALSAR L-band (JAXA, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency), RADARSAT-2 C-band (Canadian Space Agency) and TerraSAR-X X-band (DLR). The attained detection masks reveal significant agreement with the expected results based on the theoretical description. Additionally, a comparison with another widely used detector, the Polarimetric Whitening Filter (PWF) is presented. The methodology proposed in this thesis appears to outperform the PWF in two significant ways: 1) the detector is based on the polarimetric information rather than the amplitude of the return, hence the detection is not restricted to bright targets; 2) the algorithm is able to discriminate among the detected targets (i.e. target recognition)

Polarimetrische Analyse breitbandiger Radar-Signale für bildgebende Anwendungen

Wie Systeme ihre Umwelt erfassen und Umgebungen wahrnehmen ist in den letzten Jahren in nahezu allen Lebensbereichen in den Fokus technischer Entwicklungen gerückt. Es sind Anwendungen der Assistenz oder Automatisierung im privaten Raum (Smart Home), in der Produktion (Industrie 4.0) oder in Mobilitätssystemen der Logistik bzw. des Verkehrs (autonomes Fahren), welche möglichst qualitativ hochwertige und von Umgebungseinflüssen unabhängige Sensorinformationen für ihre korrekte Funktionsweise benötigen. Radar-Sensoren bieten die Möglichkeit von der Umgebung zurückgestreute Signale zu erfassen und durch räumlich verteilte Messungen eine Abbildung der Umwelt vorzunehmen. Unter Nutzung einer synthetischen Apertur und Radar-Signalen großer Bandbreite entstehen dabei Kartierungen, welche räumliche Informationen von Rückstreuobjekten bereitstellen. Die Auswertung des Polarisationszustands gesendeter und empfangener Signale, bietet außerdem eine detailliertere Aussage über deren Interaktion mit der Umgebung und ursächliche Streumechanismen. In der klassischen Radar-Fernerkundung sind die Aufgaben der Bildgebung und der Polarimetrie voneinander getrennte Verarbeitungsschritte, da erst nach der Bildgebung die notwendige Auflösung zur Trennung einzelner Mechanismen zur Verfügung steht. Informationen der Objekte wie Form oder Ausrichtung im Raum werden entsprechend durch Auswertung des polarimetrischen Streumechanismus im Bildbereich gewonnen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Erweiterung wissenschaftlicher Ausgangspunkte der bildgebenden UWB-Radar-Sensorik durch Methoden der Radar-Polarimetrie der Fernerkundung. Durch die Erschließung polarimetrischer Signalanalyse breitbandiger Radar-Signale als Vorverarbeitung bildgebender Verfahren, können polarimetrische Mechanismen bereits im Zeitbereich identifiziert und ausgewertet werden. Die daraus gewonnenen Informationen dienen der Zerlegung der Radar-Daten in einzelne Rückstreukomponenten, wodurch bildgebende Verfahren die Umgebung des Sensors mit höherer Genauigkeit und Interpretierbarkeit erfassen. Dazu werden zwei neuartige Methoden detailliert diskutiert und mit bestehenden polarimetrischen Verfahren in Bezug gesetzt. Es handelt sich dabei, um einen modellbasierten Ansatz für die Zerlegung im Zeitbereich und ein Verfahren der statistischen Analyse in Zeit- und Bildbereich. Die Funktionsweise der Methoden wird in dieser Arbeit mit Simulationsdaten veranschaulicht und mithilfe von Messungen in realitätsnaher Umgebung verifiziert.How systems capture their environment and perceive information of the surrounding area has become the focus of technological developments in almost all areas of life in recent years. These are applications of assistance or automation in the private sector (Smart Home), in production (Industry 4.0) or in mobility and logistics systems (Autonomous Driving), which require the highest possible level of sensor information independent of environmental influences for their correct functioning. Radar sensors provide the ability to detect signals scattered back from objects within the environment and to map an area through spatially distributed measurements. Using a synthetic aperture and radar signals of large bandwidth leads to maps that provide spatial location information of backscatter objects. The evaluation of the polarization state of transmitted and received signals also provides more detailed information about their interaction with the environment and causative scattering mechanisms. In classical radar remote sensing, the tasks of imaging and polarimetry are separate processing steps, since the necessary resolution for the separation of individual mechanisms is available only after imaging. Information of objects such as shape or orientation in space are obtained accordingly by evaluation of the polarimetric scattering mechanism in the image domain. The aim of this work is the extension of scientific methods of UWB radar signal processing by radar polarimetry remote sensing techniques. By utilizing polarimetric signal analysis of broadband radar signals as pre-processing of imaging techniques, polarimetric mechanisms can be identified and evaluated in the time domain. The information obtained is used to decompose the radar data into individual backscatter components, allowing imaging techniques to capture the sensor’s environment with increased accuracy and interpretability. For that purpose two novel methods and their relation to existing polarimetric techniques are discussed in detail. A model-based approach to decompose time domain radar data and a statistical analysis method in time and image domain are described in this work using simulation data and verifications by measurements in close-to-reality surroundings

Quantitative Estimation of Surface Soil Moisture in Agricultural Landscapes using Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging at Different Frequencies and Polarizations

Soil moisture and its distribution in space and time plays an important role in the surface energy balance at the soil-atmosphere interface. It is a key variable influencing the partitioning of solar energy into latent and sensible heat flux as well as the partitioning of precipitation into runoff and percolation. Due to their large spatial variability, estimation of spatial patterns of soil moisture from field measurements is difficult and not feasible for large scale analyses. In the past decades, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing has proven its potential to quantitatively estimate near surface soil moisture at high spatial resolutions. Since the knowledge of the basic SAR concepts is important to understand the impact of different natural terrain features on the quantitative estimation of soil moisture and other surface parameters, the fundamental principles of synthetic aperture radar imaging are discussed. Also the two spaceborne SAR missions whose data was used in this study, the ENVISAT of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the ALOS of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), are introduced. Subsequently, the two essential surface properties in the field of radar remote sensing, surface soil moisture and surface roughness are defined, and the established methods of their measurement are described. The in situ data used in this study, as well as the research area, the River Rur catchment, with the individual test sites where the data was collected between 2007 and 2010, are specified. On this basis, the important scattering theories in radar polarimetry are discussed and their application is demonstrated using novel polarimetric ALOS/PALSAR data. A critical review of different classical approaches to invert soil moisture from SAR imaging is provided. Five prevalent models have been chosen with the aim to provide an overview of the evolution of ideas and techniques in the field of soil moisture estimation from active microwave data. As the core of this work, a new semi-empirical model for the inversion of surface soil moisture from dual polarimetric L-band SAR data is introduced. This novel approach utilizes advanced polarimetric decomposition techniques to correct for the disturbing effects from surface roughness and vegetation on the soil moisture retrieval without the use of a priori knowledge. The land use specific algorithms for bare soil, grassland, sugar beet, and winter wheat allow quantitative estimations with accuracies in the order of 4 Vol.-%. Application of remotely sensed soil moisture patterns is demonstrated on the basis of mesoscale SAR data by investigating the variability of soil moisture patterns at different spatial scales ranging from field scale to catchment scale. The results show that the variability of surface soil moisture decreases with increasing wetness states at all scales. Finally, the conclusions from this dissertational research are summarized and future perspectives on how to extend the proposed model by means of improved ground based measurements and upcoming advances in sensor technology are discussed. The results obtained in this thesis lead to the conclusion that state-of-the-art spaceborne dual polarimetric L-band SAR systems are not only suitable to accurately retrieve surface soil moisture contents of bare as well as of vegetated agricultural fields and grassland, but for the first time also allow investigating within-field spatial heterogeneities from space