On the Extension of the Minimum Cost Flow Algorithm for Phase Unwrapping of Multitemporal Differential SAR Interferograms

In this paper, an extension of the minimum cost flow (MCF) algorithm dealing with a sparse data grid, which allows the unwrapping of multitemporal differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferograms for the generation of deformation time series, is presented. The proposed approach exploits both the spatial characteristics and the temporal relationships among multiple interferograms relevant to a properly chosen sequence. In particular, the presented solution involves two main steps: first of all, for each arc connecting neighboring pixels on the interferometric azimuth/range grid, the unwrapped phase gradients are estimated via the MCF technique applied in the temporal/perpendicular baseline plane. Following this step, these estimates are used as a starting point for the spatial-unwrapping operation implemented again via the MCF approach but carried out in the azimuth/range plane. The presented results, achieved on simulated and real European Remote Sensing satellite SAR data, confirm the effectiveness of the extended MCF unwrapping algorithm.     

A small-baseline approach for investigating deformations on full-resolution differential SAR interferograms

This paper presents a differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (DIFSAR) approach for investigating deformation phenomena on full-resolution DIFSAR interferograms. In particular, our algorithm extends the capability of the small-baseline subset (SBAS) technique that relies on small-baseline DIFSAR interferograms only and is mainly focused on investigating large-scale deformations with spatial resolutions of about 100/spl times/100 m. The proposed technique is implemented by using two different sets of data generated at low (multilook data) and full (single-look data) spatial resolution, respectively. The former is used to identify and estimate, via the conventional SBAS technique, large spatial scale deformation patterns, topographic errors in the available digital elevation model, and possible atmospheric phase artifacts; the latter allows us to detect, on the full-resolution residual phase components, structures highly coherent over time (buildings, rocks, lava, structures, etc.), as well as their height and displacements. In particular, the estimation of the temporal evolution of these local deformations is easily implemented by applying the singular value decomposition technique. The proposed algorithm has been tested with data acquired by the European Remote Sensing satellites relative to the Campania area (Italy) and validated by using geodetic measurements.     

Reduction of the need for phase unwrapping in radar interferometry

Monitoring of a small change by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has previously been demonstrated for several sites, We derive two methods for detecting small displacements in the general case of differential interferometry: (1) the topographic elimination method and (2) the three-pass method. We explain the reasons which make us favor the former method. Validation and calibration of both methods are described. The topographic elimination method is preferred because of the limited need for phase unwrapping. Although phase unwrapping is usually considered to be a key component of radar interferometry, we show that it can be avoided most of the time by using a rough digital elevation model available throughout the world and a new technique, the integer interferometric combination (IIC). Several examples validating the IIC technique are presented as well as considerations about the probability and cost of having a successful study on a given site, which is not a site of opportunity. We conclude with some examples of topography-free, map-registered interferograms, which were produced automatically from SAR raw data and digital elevation models of various quality using the above methods. This validates these methods from an operational point of view     

Unwrapping ground displacement signals in satellite radar interferograms with aid of GPS data and MRF regularization

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired by radar satellites at different times can be combined into interferograms that reveal information about the change in range from ground to satellite, wrapped into phase fringes corresponding to half the radar wavelength. We describe a methodology that uses Markov random field (MRF) regularization and simulated annealing optimization to unwrap such differential interferograms. Often, repeated Global Positioning System (GPS) geodetic measurements are available in an area covered by interferograms. Here, such repeated GPS observations are used to provide a complementary measurement of the unwrapped change in range at sparse locations. The process of unwrapping interferograms can be initialized and guided with such sparsely located "correct" values. Both interferograms and GPS observations may include several error factors, which are reduced before combining the two observations. GPS-measured range change is used to eliminate residual orbital error. In the unwrapping procedure, a vectorized lowpass filter is used to gain temporarily increased smoother variation of the phase. For the purposes of initializing the unwrapping process, virtual unwrapped interferograms are created by ordinary kriging of GPS-measured range change. The initial interferograms are then optimized further by using MRF regularization that incorporate the assumption of a smoothly varying displacement field and the relationship of the unwrapped images to the GPS observations. A simulated annealing optimization algorithm is used to find an optimal solution of the MRF regularization. The smoothed unwrapped interferograms are then used to construct unwrapped versions of the unfiltered input interferogram. Several additional image analyses methods are used in the optimization process to make the unwrapping more efficient and faster. The unwrapping technique is applied to unwrap interferograms from the Reykjanes Peninsula, in southwest Iceland.     

A new algorithm for surface deformation monitoring based on small baseline differential SAR interferograms

We present a new differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry algorithm for monitoring the temporal evolution of surface deformations. The presented technique is based on an appropriate combination of differential interferograms produced by data pairs characterized by a small orbital separation (baseline) in order to limit the spatial decorrelation phenomena. The application of the singular value decomposition method allows us to easily "link" independent SAR acquisition datasets, separated by large baselines, thus increasing the observation temporal sampling rate. The availability of both spatial and temporal information in the processed data is used to identify and filter out atmospheric phase artifacts. We present results obtained on the data acquired from 1992 to 2000 by the European Remote Sensing satellites and relative to the Campi Flegrei caldera and to the city of Naples, Italy, that demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach to follow the dynamics of the detected deformations.     

弹载合成孔径雷达动态海面成像模拟研究

海面成像模拟是对海作战导弹弹载合成孔径雷达(SAR)成像制导全过程动态仿真的重要组成部分,对于系统的性能分析和优化设计具有重要意义。研究了弹载情况下SAR对海成像模拟问题,提出了基于三维海面波动模型及弹载SAR工作过程的成像模拟方案。出于逼真性及运算速度的考虑,仿真时动态海面选用基于海浪谱的双尺度模型,海面散射模型选用双尺度散射模型。结合一组典型弹载SAR系统参数,分别在正侧视和斜视模式下对三种典型海况的动态海面进行了成像模拟,并利用实际海面SAR图像的统计特性验证了模拟结果的有效性。     

一种海洋涡旋SAR图像仿真方法

海洋涡旋对海洋热循环起着关键作用,是海洋科学研究中的一个重要分支。合成孔径雷达(Synthetic Aperture Radar, SAR)为海洋涡旋的观测和研究提供了大量的图像数据,但是涡旋在SAR成像时会受到各种海洋环境因素的影响,难以解译涡旋SAR图像特征。仿真SAR图像可以用于研究涡旋的特征,但是目前极少有关于涡旋SAR图像仿真方法的研究。为了更好地解译SAR图像中的涡旋特征,该文提出了一种涡旋SAR图像仿真方法。首先,基于流体力学中典型的Burgers-Rott涡旋模型,建立涡旋2维表面流场;然后,利用SAR海洋成像仿真模型,仿真给定涡旋2维流场、海面风场以及雷达系统参数下的涡旋SAR图像。该文针对气旋式涡旋与反气旋式涡旋进行了仿真实验,并建立了仿真涡旋SAR图像的相似度评价标准。实验结果表明,仿真的涡旋SAR图像与真实星载涡旋SAR图像能够较好地吻合,验证了方法的有效性。      

Modeling temporal evolution of junco marshes radar signatures

In this work, multitemporal synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data in conjunction with an electromagnetic (EM) model and a vegetation growth model were used to monitor and explain burn-regrowth events of junco vegetation in a wetland environment. The data used were from Radarsat-1, ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR), and European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) temporal series. The EM model is based on radiative transfer theory and describes junco vegetation as a set of vertical dielectric cylinders on a flat flooded surface. It was used, together with the vegetation growth model, to predict the temporal evolution of the radar response during a burn-regrowth event. This simulation was compared with the ERS-2 vertical (VV) data. It was observed a "bell-shaped" temporal trend that was confirmed by the simulated data with a mean error of 2.5 dB. Additionally, in view of current and future ENVISAT ASAR Alternating Polarization Mode Precision data, the horizontal (HH) SAR temporal response was also simulated giving as a result strong differences between simulated HH and VV temporal trends. These differences are in good agreement with the ones observed between Radarsat-1 HH and ERS-2 VV SAR data acquired at close dates and also with the same differences observed between HH and VV ENVISAT ASAR data. Electromagnetic modeling results provide a sound theoretical interpretation of these observations.     

Dictionary-based stochastic expectation-maximization for SAR amplitude probability density function estimation

In remotely sensed data analysis, a crucial problem is represented by the need to develop accurate models for the statistics of the pixel intensities. This paper deals with the problem of probability density function (pdf) estimation in the context of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) amplitude data analysis. Several theoretical and heuristic models for the pdfs of SAR data have been proposed in the literature, which have been proved to be effective for different land-cover typologies, thus making the choice of a single optimal parametric pdf a hard task, especially when dealing with heterogeneous SAR data. In this paper, an innovative estimation algorithm is described, which faces such a problem by adopting a finite mixture model for the amplitude pdf, with mixture components belonging to a given dictionary of SAR-specific pdfs. The proposed method automatically integrates the procedures of selection of the optimal model for each component, of parameter estimation, and of optimization of the number of components by combining the stochastic expectation-maximization iterative methodology with the recently developed "method-of-log-cumulants" for parametric pdf estimation in the case of nonnegative random variables. Experimental results on several real SAR images are reported, showing that the proposed method accurately models the statistics of SAR amplitude data.     

一种应用于条带SAR的改进PGA算法

相位梯度自聚焦（PGA）算法被广泛应用于SAR成像过程中，具有很好的聚焦性和稳健性。文中在对聚束SAR中的标准PGA算法进行分析的基础上，根据聚束SAR与条带SAR回波信号的不同特点，提出了适用于条带SAR的PGA算法。该算法通过选取更为合适的特显点目标及以特显点位置作为分段的依据，在条带SAR的仿真和实际成像过程中取得了良好的聚焦效果，并且具有较快的收敛速度。     

Tree height influence on ERS interferometric phase in boreal forest

The European Remote Sensing 1/2 (ERS-1/2) "tandem" coherence has been shown to provide estimates of stem volume in boreal forest in agreement with in situ data. Tree height estimation from ERS interferometric phase represents a further step in the investigations concerning the retrieval of biophysical parameters using repeat-pass synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry. At two test sites located in Sweden and Finland, sets of respectively nine and eight ERS "tandem" interferograms were available. Images acquired under stable winter weather conditions and during nighttime were found to be less affected by atmospheric artifacts. Reduction of atmospheric artifacts in interferograms was performed with a phase screen estimated over a dense grid of open areas. Nonetheless, at each test site, only a limited set of pairs was useful for tree height investigations. Under stable winter conditions, the interferometric tree height obtained from an inversion of the differential interferometric phase at stand level was found to be much lower than the true tree height. Spread and uncertainty in the interferometric tree height measurements were caused by phase noise and residual atmospheric artifacts. Using the semiempirical interferometric water cloud model (IWCM), the modeled interferometric tree height was generally in reasonable agreement with the measurements, showing the need of a phase term in interferometric modeling of forests. The inversion of the IWCM for tree height retrieval showed the strong effect of phase noise and atmospheric artifacts on the estimates. Hence, tree height retrieval from ERS repeat-pass SAR interferometry seems to have limited forestry applications. The results also indicate under what conditions the forest influence is small on digital elevation models derived from repeat-pass interferometry.     

海面流场的三种雷达体制成像仿真

监测海面流场是微波遥感重要应用之一,它对民用和军用领域都有非常重要的意义。微波传感器主要包括早期的真实孔径雷达、高分辨率合成孔径雷达和新兴的双站合成孔径雷达。文中提出一种对海面弱流场和波浪进行真实孔径雷达/合成孔径雷达/双站合成孔径雷达成像的仿真方法。该方法根据给定的海面流场数据、海况条件和雷达参数,考虑倾斜、流体动力和速度聚束调制作用,并利用海面微波散射模型和雷达回波信号模型生成雷达仿真图像,得到的雷达图像可为后续的海洋目标检测等算法提供仿真数据源。     

基于视觉感知和MARMA-MRF模型的SAR图像分割

模拟人类视觉感知机制,提出了一种基于多尺度 自回归滑动平均(MARMA,multiscale auto-regressive and moving average model)模型 和Markov随机场(MRF,markov random field)的合成孔径雷达(SAR)图像分割新方法。首先 ,分析人类视觉感知系统的工作机制 和特点,利用SAR的成像机理,构建了SAR图像的金字塔结构和MARMA模型, 以此模拟视觉过程中的空间尺度和朝向感知机制;然后,通过不同尺度上的MRF模型和改 进的模拟退火(SA)算法实现更有效的多尺度分割策略。实验结果表明,本文提出的方法在SA R图像分割任务中有非常良好的表现。     

Combining Airborne Photographs and Spaceborne SAR Data to Monitor Temperate Glaciers: Potentials and Limits

Monitoring temperate glacier activity has become more and more necessary for economical and security reasons and as an indicator of the local effects of global climate change. Remote sensing data provide useful information on such complex geophysical objects, but they require specific processing techniques to cope with the difficult context of moving and changing features in high-relief areas. This paper presents the first results of a project involving four laboratories developing and combining specific methods to extract information from optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Two different information sources are processed, namely: 1) airborne photography and 2) spaceborne C-band SAR interferometry. The difficulties and limitations of their processing in the context of Alpine glaciers are discussed and illustrated on two glaciers located in the Mont-Blanc area. The results obtained by aerial triangulation techniques provide digital terrain models with an accuracy that is better than 30 cm, which is compatible with the computation of volume balance and useful for precise georeferencing and slope measurement updating. The results obtained by SAR differential interferometry using European Remote Sensing Satellite images show that it is possible to measure temperate glacier surface velocity fields from October to April in one-day interferograms with approximately 20-m ground sampling. This allows to derive ice surface strain rate fields required to model the glacier flow. These different measurements are complementary to results obtained during the summer from satellite optical data and ground measurements that are available only in few accessible points     

基于极坐标格式算法的地基雷达数据处理方法

近年来,地基合成孔径雷达（Ground-based synthetic aperture radar,GBSAR)被广泛应用于地表形变监测和大型建筑物形变监测。极坐标格式算法（Polar Format Algorithm,PFA）是一种典型的聚束SAR高分辨率成像算法,本文针对地基SAR应用于特定监测目标场景这种应用背景,将极坐标格式算法应用于其中,提出了一种基于极坐标格式算法的地基雷达数据处理方法,建立了地基雷达的成像几何,从信号的相位历程这一角度分析了该方法的基本原理,引进多项补偿因子并提高了方位向的分辨率,最后通过仿真数据和实测数据验证了该理论方法的正确性和可行性。      

An application of L-band synthetic aperture radar to tide height measurement

A method for measuring the tide height near the coast from L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data is presented. Twenty-one coherent interferograms have been successfully constructed from Japanese Earth Resources Satellite 1 (JERS-1) SAR data obtained over oyster sea-farming structures. A coherence analysis of the 21 interferometric pairs showed that a perpendicular baseline of less than 3 km, with a temporal baseline within 500 days, are required to obtain a coherent pair, with a coherence higher than 0.25, in the study area. The coherent phases preserved in the interferograms showed a close relation with the sea level. The problem of phase unwrapping to restore an absolute tide height was overcome by introducing normalized image intensities. The radar measurements estimated by the proposed method were verified using tide gauge data, and comparison of the two datasets yielded a correlation coefficient R/sup 2/ of 0.91, with a root mean square error of 5.76 cm. The results demonstrate that radar interferometry can be applied for a tide height measurement near the coast given sufficient structures that return off-nadir radar pulses to the antenna. The multipolarized L-band SAR system will provide better results, using only double-bounced signals, in the future.     

Modeling and reduction of SAR interferometric phase noise in the wavelet domain

This paper addresses the problem of interferometric phase noise reduction in synthetic aperture radar interferometry. A new phase noise model in the complex domain is introduced and validated by using both simulated and real interferograms. This noise model is also derived in the complex wavelet domain, where a novel noise reduction algorithm, which is not based on a windowing process and without the necessity of phase unwrapping, is addressed. The use of the wavelet transform allows to maintain the spatial resolution in the filtered phase image and prevents to filter low coherence areas. By using both, simulated as well as real interferometric phase images, the performance of this algorithm, in terms of noise reduction, spatial resolution maintenance, and computational efficiency, is reported and compared with other conventional filtering approaches.     

Comparison of SAR-derived wind speed with model predictions andocean buoy measurements

As part of the Alaska synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Demonstration Project in 1999 and 2000, wide-swath RADARSAT SAR imagery has been acquired on a regular basis in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. During 1998 and 1999, similar data were acquired off the East Coast of the United States as part of the StormWatch Project. The radar cross section measurements from these images were combined with wind direction estimates from the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System model to produce high-resolution maps of the surface wind speed. For this study, 2862 SAR image frames were collected and examined. Averaged wind estimates from this data base have been systematically compared with corresponding wind speed estimates from buoy measurements and model predictions, and very good agreement has been found. The standard deviation between the buoy wind speed and the SAR estimates is 1.76 m/s. Details of the SAR wind extraction procedure are discussed, along with implications of the comparisons on the C-band polarization ratio