Methodology of a Troposphere Effect Mitigation Processor for SAR Interferometry

Troposphere effect mitigation based on numerical weather prediction (NWP) is an actual research topic in SAR interferometry (InSAR) and especially in persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI). This is the reason, a scientific troposphere effect mitigation processing system has been developed. The objective of this paper is to provide the methodology of four developed algorithms, demonstrate application examples, discuss the methods characteristic and recommend techniques for operational systems

PSI-based methodology to land subsidence mechanism recognition

Abstract. A methodology based on Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is proposed in order to disentangle the contribution of different processes that act at different spatio-temporal scales in land subsidence (i.e. vadose zone processes as swelling/shrinkage of clay soils, soil consolidation and fluid extraction). The methodology was applied in different Italian geological contexts characterized by natural and anthropic processes (i.e. a Prealpine valley and the Po Plain in northern Italy)

The worsening impacts of land reclamation assessed with Sentinel-1: The Rize (Turkey) test case

Massive amounts of land are being reclaimed to build airports, new cities, ports, and highways. Hundreds of kilometers are added each year, as coastlines are extended further out to the sea. In this paper, this urbanization approach is monitored by Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique with Sentinel-1 SAR data. The study aims to explore this technology in order to support local authorities to detect and evaluate subtle terrain displacements. For this purpose, a large 3-years Sentinel-1 stack composed by 92 images acquired between 07/01/2015 to 27/01/2018 is employed and stacking techniques are chosen to assess ground motion. The test site of this study, Rize, Turkey, has been declared at high risk of collapse and radical solutions such as the relocation of the entire city in another area are been taken into consideration. A media fact-checking approach, i.e. evaluating national and international press releases on the test site, is considered for the paper and this work presents many findings in different areas of the city. For instance, alerts are confirmed by inspecting several buildings reported by the press. Critical infrastructures are monitored as well. Portions of the harbor show high displacement rates, up to 1 cm/year, proving reported warnings. Rural villages belonging to the same municipality are also investigated and a mountainous village affected by landslide is considered in the study. Sentinel-1 is demonstrated to be a suitable system to detect and monitor small changes or buildings and infrastructures for these scenarios. These changes may be highly indicative of imminent damage which can lead to the loss of the structural integrity and subsequent failure of the structure in the long-term. In Rize, only a few known motion-critical structures are monitored daily with in-situ technologies. SAR interferometry can assist to save expensive inspection and monitoring services, especially in highly critical cases such as the one studied in this paper

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique for landslide characterization and monitoring

: The measurement of landslide superficial displacement often represents the most effective method for defining its behavior, allowing one to observe the relationship with triggering factors and to assess the effectiveness of the mitigation measures. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) represents a powerful tool to measure landslide displacement, as it offers a synoptic view that can be repeated at different time intervals and at various scales. In many cases, PSI data are integrated with in situ monitoring instrumentation, since the joint use of satellite and ground-based data facilitates the geological interpretation of a landslide and allows a better understanding of landslide geometry and kinematics. In this work, PSI interferometry and conventional ground-based monitoring techniques have been used to characterize and to monitor the Santo Stefano d’Aveto landslide located in the Northern Apennines, Italy. This landslide can be defined as an earth rotational slide. PSI analysis has contributed to a more in-depth investigation of the phenomenon. In particular, PSI measurements have allowed better redefining of the boundaries of the landslide and the state of activity, while the time series analysis has permitted better understanding of the deformation pattern and its relation with the causes of the landslide itself. The integration of ground-based monitoring data and PSI data have provided sound results for landslide characterization. The punctual information deriving from inclinometers can help in defining the actual location of the sliding surface and the involved volumes, while the measuring of pore water pressure conditions or water table level can suggest a correlation between the deformation patterns and the triggering factors

Advanced pixel selection and optimization algorithms for Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI)

Tesi amb diferents seccions retallades per dret de l'editorPremi Extraordinari de Doctorat, promoció 2018-2019. Àmbit de les TICGround deformation measurements can provide valuable information for minimization of associated loss and damage caused by natural and environmental hazards. As a kind of remote sensing technique, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) SAR is able to measure ground deformation with high spatial resolution, efficiently. Moreover, the ground deformation monitoring accuracy of PSI techniques can reach up to millimeter level. However, low coherence could hinderthe exploitation of SAR data, and high-accuracy deformation monitoring can only be achieved by PSI for high quality pixels. Therefore, pixel optimization and identification of coherent pixels are crucial for PSI techniques. In this thesis, advanced pixel selection and optimization algorithms have been investigated. Firstly, a full-resolution pixel selection method based on the Temporal Phase Coherence (TPC) has been proposed. This method first estimates noise phase term of each pixel at interferogram level. Then, for each pixel, its noise phase terms of all interferograms are used to assess this pixel’s temporal phase quality (i.e., TPC). In the next, based on the relationship between TPC and phase Standard Deviation (STD), a threshold can be posed on TPC to identify high phase quality pixels. This pixel selection method can work with both Deterministic Scatterers (PSs) and Distributed Scatterers (DSs). To valid the effectiveness of the developed method, it has been used to monitor the Canillo (Andorra) landslide. The results show that the TPC method can obtained highest density of valid pixels among the employed three approaches in this challenging area with X-band SAR data. Second, to balance the polarimetric DInSAR phase optimization effect and the computation cost, a new PolPSI algorithm is developed. This proposed PolPSI algorithm is based on the Coherency Matrix Decomposition result to determine the optimal scattering mechanism of each pixel, thus it is named as CMD-PolPSI. CMDPolPSI need not to search for solution within the full space of solution, it is therefore much computationally faster than the classical Equal Scattering Mechanism (ESM) method, but with lower optimization performance. On the other hand, its optimization performance outperforms the less computational costly BEST method. Third, an adaptive algorithm SMF-POLOPT has been proposed to adaptive filtering and optimizing PolSAR pixels for PolPSI applications. This proposed algorithm is based on PolSAR classification results to firstly identify Polarimetric Homogeneous Pixels (PHPs) for each pixel, and at the same time classify PS and DS pixels. After that, DS pixels are filtered by their associated PHPs, and then optimized based on the coherence stability phase quality metric; PS pixels are unfiltered and directly optimized based on the DA phase quality metric. SMF-POLOPT can simultaneously reduce speckle noise and retain structures’ details. Meanwhile, SMF-POLOPT is able to obtain much higher density of valid pixels for deformation monitoring than the ESM method. To conclude, one pixel selection method has been developed and tested, two PolPSI algorithms have been proposed in this thesis. This work make contributions to the research of “Advanced Pixel Selection and Optimization Algorithms for Persistent Scatterer InterferometryLes mesures de deformació del sòl poden proporcionar informació valuosa per minimitzar les pèrdues i els danys associats causats pels riscos naturals i ambientals. Com a tècnica de teledetecció, la interferometria de dispersors persistents (Persistent Scatter Interferometry, PSI) SAR és capaç de mesurar de forma eficient la deformació del terreny amb una alta resolució espacial. A més, la precisió de monitorització de la deformació del sòl de les tècniques PSI pot arribar a arribar a nivells del mil·límetre. No obstant això, una baixa coherència pot dificultar l’explotació de dades SAR i el control de deformació d’alta precisió només es pot aconseguir mitjançant PSI per a píxels d’alta qualitat. Per tant, l’optimització de píxels i la identificació de píxels coherents són crucials en les tècniques PSI. En aquesta tesi s¿han investigat algorismes avançats de selecció i optimització de píxels. En primer lloc, s'ha proposat un mètode de selecció de píxels de resolució completa basat en la coherència temporal de fase (Temporal Phase Coherence, TPC). Aquest mètode estima per primera vegada el terme de fase de soroll de cada píxel a nivell d’interferograma. A continuació, per a cada píxel, s'utilitzen els termes de la fase de soroll de tots els interferogrames per avaluar la qualitat de fase temporal d'aquest píxel (és a dir, TPC). A la següent, basant-se en la relació entre el TPC i la desviació estàndard de fase (STD), es pot plantejar un llindar de TPC per identificar píxels de qualitat de fase alta. Aquest mètode de selecció de píxels es capaç de detectar tant els dispersors deterministes (PS) com els distribuïts (DS). Per validar l’eficàcia del mètode desenvolupat, s’ha utilitzat per controlar l’esllavissada de Canillo (Andorra). Els resultats mostren que el mètode TPC pot obtenir la major densitat de píxels vàlids, comparat amb els mètodes clàssics de selecció, en aquesta àrea difícil amb dades de SAR de banda X. En segon lloc, per equilibrar l’efecte d’optimització de fase DInSAR polarimètrica i el cost de càlcul, es desenvolupa un nou algorisme de PolPSI. Aquest algorisme proposat de PolPSI es basa en el resultat de la descomposició de la matriu de coherència per determinar el mecanisme de dispersió òptim de cada píxel, de manera que es denomina CMD-PolPSI. CMDPolPSI no necessita buscar solucions dins de l’espai complet de la solució, per tant, és molt més eficient computacionalment que el mètode clàssic de mecanismes d’igualtat de dispersió (Equal Scattering Mechanism, ESM), però amb un efecte d’optimització no tant òptim. D'altra banda, el seu efecte d'optimització supera el mètode BEST, el que te un menor cost computacional. En tercer lloc, s'ha proposat un algoritme adaptatiu SMF-POLOPT per al filtratge adaptatiu i l'optimització de píxels PolSAR per a aplicacions PolPSI. Aquest algorisme proposat es basa en els resultats de classificació PolSAR per identificar primer els píxels homogenis polarimètrics (PHP) per a cada píxel i, alhora, classificar els píxels PS i DS. Després d'això, els píxels DS es filtren pels seus PHP associats i, a continuació, s'optimitzen en funció de la mètrica de qualitat de la fase d'estabilitat de coherència; els píxels classificats com PS no es filtren i s'optimitzen directament en funció de la mètrica de qualitat de la fase DA. SMF-POLOPT pot reduir simultàniament el soroll de la fase interferomètrica i conservar els detalls de les estructures. Mentrestant, SMF-POLOPT aconsegueix obtenir una densitat molt més alta de píxels vàlids per al seguiment de la deformació que el mètode ESM. Per concloure, en aquesta tesi s’ha desenvolupat i provat un mètode de selecció de píxels, i s’han proposat dos algoritmes PolPSI. Aquest treball contribueix a la recerca en "Advanced Pixel Selection and Optimization Algorithms for Persistent Scatterer Interferometry"Postprint (published version

Sentinel-1A/B imagery for terrain deformation monitoring: a strategy for Atmospheric Phase Screening (APS) estimation

This work focus on terrain deformation monitoring by means of C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1A/B imagery exploiting the Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique. The deformation monitoring strategy described in this article is related to a specific monitoring scenario where a relatively small urban area is potentially affected by deformation and its surroundings are stable. In the case study considered in this work, the scenario corresponds to an area of potential subsidence induced by underground water pumping covering an area of interest with a radius of approximately 1 km. The proposed monitoring strategy takes advantage of the specific scenario at hand and, in particular, of the availability of stable areas in the vicinity of the area potentially affected by ground deformation, to estimate the Atmospheric Phase Screen (APS), i.e. signal propagation delay caused by the Earth's atmosphere, in an attempt to minimize the underestimation of the deformation rate

Deformation monitoring using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry and Sentinel-1 SAR data

During the last decades, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) has demonstrated to be a powerful tool able to measure and monitor deformations. This technique makes use of large stacks of interferometric SAR images to derive the deformation maps and deformation time series. In this paper, Sentinel-1 images are used to derive the deformation monitoring over the Catalonia region (Spain). These images brings new improvements due to its wide coverage and high revisiting time, which allows us to make a wide area processing. The first part of the paper describes the data processing implemented by the authors to analyze Sentinel-1 data and the PSI approach used in this ongoing research. The second part of the paper illustrates the results derived over an area of 6750 km2 using Sentinel-1 images

Improving the reference network in wide-area Persistent Scatterer Interferometry for non-urban areas

Advanced Interferometric SAR (InSAR) technique, namely, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI), allows long term deformation time series analysis with millimeter accuracy. Reference network arcs construction, arcs estimation and integration for PSs are an important step in PSI. In rural regions, low density of PSs leads to separate clusters during reference network construction. Also, in case of wide-area PSI using ERS-1/2 or Sentinel-1 data, the computational load can be very high. Due to this, the reference network processing is usually divided into overlapping blocks and merged later. This can however lead to spatial error propagation. This paper presents algorithms for improving the reference network in wide-area PSI, with a focus on non-urban areas

Railways’ Stability Observation by Satellite Radar Images

Remote sensing has many vital civilian applications. Space-borne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar has been used to measure the Earth’s surface deformation widely. In particular, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is designed to estimate the temporal characteristics of the Earth’s deformation rates from multiple InSAR images acquired over time. This chapter reviews the space-borne Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar techniques that have shown their capabilities in monitoring of railways displacements. After description of the current state of the art and potentials of the available radar remote sensing techniques, one case study is examined, pertaining to a railway bridge in the Campania region, Italy

Monitoring the impact of groundwater pumping on infrastructure using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI)

Transportation infrastructure is critical for the advancement of society. Bridges are vital for an efficient transportation network. Bridges across the world undergo variable deformation/displacement due to the Earth’s dynamic processes. This displacement is caused by ground motion, which occurs from many natural and anthropogenic events. Events causing deformation include temperature fluctuation, subsidence, landslides, earthquakes, water/sea level variation, subsurface resource extraction, etc. Continual deformation may cause bridge failure, putting civilians at risk, if not managed properly. Monitoring bridge displacement, large and small, provides evidence of the state and health of the bridge. Traditionally, bridge monitoring has been executed through on-site surveys. Although this method of bridge monitoring is systematic and successful, it is not the most efficient and cost-effective. Through technological advances, satellite-based Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have provided a system for analyzing ground deformation over time. This method is applied to distinguish bridges that are more at risk than others by generating models that display the displacement at various locations along each bridge. A bridge’s health and its potential risk can be estimated upon analysis of measured displacement rates. In return, this process of monitoring bridges can be done at much faster rates; saving time, money and resources. PSI data covering Oxnard, California, revealed both bridge displacement and regional ground displacement. Although each bridge maintained different patterns of displacement, many of the bridges within the Oxnard area displayed an overall downward movement matching regional subsidence trends observed in the area. Patterns in displacement-time series plots provide evidence for two types of deformation mechanisms. Long-term downward movements correlate with the relatively large regional subsidence observed using PSI in Oxnard. Thermal dilation from seasonal temperature changes may cause short-term variabilities unique to each bridge. Overall, it may be said that linking geologic, weather, and groundwater patterns with bridge displacement has shown promise for monitoring transportation infrastructure and more importantly differentiating between regional subsidence and site-specific displacements