Poincare Sphere Representation Of Independent Scattering Sources: Application On Distributed Targets

Abstract

International audienceThis paper introduces Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to the Incoherent Target Decomposition theory (ICDT) through the particular application - snow cover analysis. Given that the equivalence of the currently used eigenvalue decomposition and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) can be stated under certain constraints, the goal is to generalise ICDT in the context of Blind Source Separation (family of techniques comprising both PCA and ICA). This generalisation allows independent non-orthogonal backscattering mechanisms retrieval in case of non-Gaussian polarimetric clutter. The obtained independent target vectors are parametrized using the Target Scattering Vector Model (TSVM). The algorithm is applied on a distributed target - snow cover, and the obtained parameters are illustrated and appropriately interpreted using the Poincare sphere