Extended chirp scaling algorithm for air- and spaceborne SAR dataprocessing in stripmap and ScanSAR imaging modes

Presents a generalized formulation of the extended chirp scaling (ECS) approach for high precision processing of air- and spaceborne SAR data. Based on the original chirp scaling function, the ECS algorithm incorporates a new azimuth scaling function and a subaperture approach, which allow an effective phase-preserving processing of ScanSAR data without interpolation for azimuth geometric correction. The azimuth scaling can also be used for automatic azimuth coregistration of interferometric image pairs which are acquired with different sampling distances. Additionally, a novel range scaling formulation is proposed for automatic range coregistration of interferometric image pairs or for improved robustness for the processing of highly squinted data. Several simulation and processing results of air- and spaceborne SAR data are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithms     

A new algorithm for scansar processing

In this paper, a new phase preserving algorithm-the short IFFT algorithm for the burst-mode ScanSAR processing is presented. Analysis and simulation are done to verify the phase accuracy of this algorithm. Finally, the phase accuracy of this algorithm by making interferogram with simulated burst-mode INSAR data is illustrated. The results show that this new algorithm works well for interferometric application of ScanSAR data.     

ScanSAR processing using standard high precision SAR algorithms

Processing ScanSAR or burst-mode SAR data by standard high precision algorithms (e.g., range/Doppler, wavenumber domain, or chirp scaling) is shown to be an interesting alternative to the normally used SPECAN (or deramp) algorithm. Long burst trains with zeroes inserted into the interburst intervals can be processed coherently. This kind of processing preserves the phase information of the data-an important aspect for ScanSAR interferometry. Due to the interference of the burst images the impulse response shows a periodic modulation that can be eliminated by a subsequent low-pass filtering of the detected image. This strategy allows an easy and safe adaptation of existing SAR processors to ScanSAR data if throughput is not an issue. The images are automatically consistent with regular SAR mode images both with respect to geometry and radiometry. The amount and diversity of the software for a multimode SAR processor are reduced. The impulse response and transfer functions of a burst-mode end-to-end system are derived. Special attention is drawn to the achievable image quality, the radiometric accuracy, and the effective number of looks. The scalloping effect known from burst-mode systems can be controlled by the spectral weighting of the processor transfer function. It is shown that the fact that the burst cycle period is in general not an integer multiple of the sampling grid distance does not complicate the algorithm. An image example using X-SAR data for simulation of a burst system is presented     

星载ScanSAR干涉处理研究

星载ScanSAR干涉测量是一种宽测绘带的三维测高模式。该文结合ScanSAR工作原理,研究该模式干涉信号的频谱特点及ScanSAR干涉处理中特有的方位扫描同步;分析ENVISAT卫星ASAR Wide Swath模式单视复图像数据的特点,提出ScanSAR干涉数据处理的具体实现方案,并通过处理真实数据验证该方法的有效性。     

ScanSAR focusing and interferometry

The authors discuss an efficient phase preserving technique for ScanSAR focusing, used to obtain images suitable for ScanSAR interferometry. Given two complex focused ScanSAR images of the same area, an interferogram can be generated as for conventional repeat pass SAR interferometry. However, due to the nonstationary azimuth spectrum of ScanSAR images, the coherence of the interferometric pair and the interferogram resolution are affected, both by the possible scan misregistration between two passes and by the terrain slopes along the azimuth. The resulting decorrelation can be significantly reduced by means of an azimuth varying filter, provided that some conditions on the scan misregistration are met. Finally, the SAR-ScanSAR interferometry is proposed: here the decorrelation can always be removed. With no resolution loss by means of the technique presented     

A Joint Image Coregistration, Phase Noise Suppression, and Phase Unwrapping Method Based on Subspace Projection for Multibaseline InSAR Systems

As is well known, image coregistration, interferometric phase noise suppression, and phase unwrapping are three key processing procedures of synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR). The three procedures are cascaded in the conventional processing flow of InSAR. Unlike the conventional processing flow, in this paper we propose a joint processing idea to carry out image coregistration, interferometric phase noise filtering, and phase unwrapping simultaneously based on subspace projection for multibaseline InSAR systems. The joint processing method can perform the fine coregistration of all SAR images implicitly by extracting the correlation information in the neighboring pixel sets, suppress the phase noise by utilizing the orthogonality of the signal subspace and the corresponding noise subspace, and optimally estimate the unwrapped interferometric phases (or the terrain heights) by combining the pixel coherence and the baseline diversity of a multibaseline InSAR system. Simulated results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the joint processing method     

A new hybrid-beam data acquisition strategy to support ScanSAR radiometric calibration

Wide-swath synthetic aperture radar (SAR) coverage is provided by RADARSAT using a multiple-beam scanning strategy called ScanSAR. Each beam covers a different range, and is allocated a fixed period of time in which to transmit and receive radar pulses. During SAR processing, the data from each beam must be "stitched" together to form a complete image of the scanned area. This data must be radiometrically calibrated to compensate for antenna beam patterns. However, incorrect measurements of the satellite roll angle cause errors in radiometric calibration, and can lead to visible artifacts in the image (e.g. banding). A new ScanSAR data acquisition technique is proposed that improves roll angle estimation through the use of radar pulses, transmitted by one beam and received by another. The new data are called "hybrid beam data" and can be utilized with modified versions of existing roll estimation algorithms. This paper shows how the hybrid beam data are collected, accommodating pulse repetition frequency, range gate delay, and other timing changes as beams are switched.     

利用粗DEM信息的分布式卫星InSAR图像精配准算法

针对分布式卫星干涉合成孔径雷达图像配准中最大相干相关法在实际应用中缺乏理想相位估计值问题,提出利用粗数字高程模型反演干涉相位图作为理想相位估计值的处理方法。该方法通过在图像粗配准后利用主辅SAR图像的轨道信息、粗DEM以及主图像雷达成像几何反演出干涉条纹图,并将其作为理想干涉条纹估计值应用在最大相干相关法求取精配准偏移量中。此外,本文根据多基星载SAR雷达成像几何给出了利用粗DEM对SAR图像各像素对应目标点通用的空间定位方法及其干涉相位反演方法。ERS-1/2数据实验结果验证了本文方法的有效性。      

RADARSAT [SAR imaging]

RADARSAT, the first Canadian remote-sensing spacecraft, is designed to provide Earth observation information for five years. The satellite is scheduled for launch in 1994. The only payload instrument is a 5.6-cm-wavelength (C-band) synthetic aperture imaging radar (SAR). RADARSAT will gather data on command for up to 28 min during each cycle of its 800-km (nominal) near-polar orbit. Image resolutions from 10 to 100 m at swath widths of 45 to 500 km will be available. The RADARSAT mission is reviewed, and the design, characteristics, and implementation of the radar are introduced. Technical problems addressed include calibration, rapid data processing, the phased array antenna that provides controlled beam steering, and the first satellite implementation of a special radar technique known as ScanSAR     

提高双通道低频SAR干涉图性能的方法

沿航向干涉法是一种检测运动目标简单易行的有效方法。在低频双通道SAR系统中,为了保证干涉性能,不仅要考虑降低图像相干性的各类误差,还要考虑实时成像过程中残留的RFI对通道图像的影响。本文首先与高频系统中的误差进行比较,分析了影响低频双通道SAR系统的主要误差及其特点;其次分析了RFI对干涉图干扰的基本原理与特征,进而提出了一种提高双通道低频SAR干涉图性能的误差校正方法。该方法充分考虑了低频SAR系统的接收机频率特性误差、天线方向图误差、干涉相位误差及图像配准误差,利用基于方位时域距离频域干涉图的中值滤波器能够有效抑制具有窄带特性、时变性和空变性的RFI信号。国内首批机载双通道低频SAR实测数据验证了该方法的有效性与可靠性。该算法运算简单,效率高,适合对沿航向干涉法的实时处理。     

TOPS Imaging With TerraSAR-X: Mode Design and Performance Analysis

This paper reports about the performed investigations for the implementation of the wide-swath TOPS (Terrain Observation by Progressive Scan) imaging mode with TerraSAR-X (TSX). The TOPS mode overcomes the limitations imposed by the ScanSAR mode by steering the antenna along track during the acquisition of a burst. In this way, all targets are illuminated with the complete azimuth antenna pattern, and, thus, scalloping is circumvented, and an azimuth dependence of signal-to-noise ratio and distributed target ambiguity ratio (DTAR) is avoided. However, the use of electronically steered antennas leads to a quantization of the steering law and a nonideal pattern for squinted angles (grating lobes and main lobe reduction). The former provokes spurious peaks, while the latter introduces slight scalloping and DTAR deterioration. These effects are analyzed and quantified for TSX, and a TOPS system design approach is presented. Next, the requirements concerning interferometry are investigated. Finally, several results are shown with the TSX data, including a comparison between the TOPS and the ScanSAR modes and the reporting of the first TOPS interferometric results.      

Doppler centroid estimation for ScanSAR data

We introduce a novel accurate technique to estimate the Doppler centroid (DC) in ScanSAR missions. The technique starts from the ambiguous DC measures in the subswaths and uses a method alternative to standard unwrapping to undo the jumps in estimates induced by modulo pulse repetition frequency (PRF) measures. The proposed alternative is less error prone than the usual unwrapping techniques. Doppler Ambiguity is then solved by implementing a maximum-likelihood estimate that exploits the different PRFs used in different subswaths. An azimuth pointing of the antenna that does not change with subswaths, or that changes in a known way, is assumed. However, if the PRF diversity is strong enough, unknown small changes in azimuth pointing are tolerated and accurately estimated. This estimator is much simpler and more efficient, than those in the literature. Results achieved with both RADARSAT 1 and ENVISAT ScanSAR data are reported.     

Estimation of the Surface Velocity Field of the Aletsch Glacier Using Multibaseline Airborne SAR Interferometry

This paper presents a methodology to process airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to measure surface velocity fields (SVFs) of temperate glaciers, and applies it to data acquired over the Aletsch glacier. The first part of this paper deals with the main limitation in airborne interferometric SAR to retrieve reliable interferometric products, namely, the existence of the so-called residual motion errors—inaccuracies on the order of a few centimeters in the navigation system. An extended multisquint approach is proposed for their estimation in the case of nonstationary scenes. The second part of this paper expounds an efficient methodology to derive SVFs with airborne systems, where the line-of-sight displacement is estimated using differential interferometry and the along-track component by estimating the azimuth coregistration offsets. The necessary steps to finally obtain the 3-D SVF are also presented, as well as the possibility of combining different acquisition geometries. Airborne interferometric SAR data acquired by the Experimental SAR system of the German Aerospace Center over the Aletsch glacier, located in the Swiss Alps, are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The motion of the corner reflectors deployed in the scene is retrieved with an accuracy between 1 and 5 cm/day using L-band data.      

Image autocoregistration and InSAR interferogram estimation using joint subspace projection

In this paper, we propose a new method to estimate synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) interferometric phase in the presence of large coregistration errors. The method takes advantage of the coherence information of neighboring pixel pairs to automatically coregister the SAR images and employs the projection of the joint signal subspace onto the corresponding joint noise subspace to estimate the terrain interferometric phase. The method can automatically coregister the SAR images and reduce the interferometric phase noise simultaneously. Theoretical analysis and computer simulation results show that the method can provide accurate estimate of the terrain interferometric phase (interferogram) as the coregistration error reaches one pixel. The effectiveness of the method is also verified with the real data from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X Band SAR and the European Remote Sensing 1 and 2 satellites.     

极化干涉SAR面向城区不同处理模式的误差影响分析

极化干涉合成孔径雷达(PolInSAR)在城区等复杂场景下的应用受到了越来越多的关注。面向城区的极化干涉SAR处理主要包括基于极化最优相干的干涉测高、基于极化分解的干涉测高、联立极化干涉观测方程直接求解不同散射机制高度这3种模式。现有研究对各类误差在极化干涉SAR不同处理模式下的综合影响分析尚很欠缺。该文在构建极化干涉SAR误差模型的基础上,提出了联立极化观测方程下散射机制的求解方法,推导了极化失真和干涉误差在极化干涉SAR不同处理模式下的综合影响模型,并通过仿真验证了模型的正确性,同时给出了3种处理模式补偿误差后的高度反演结果,补偿误差后通过极化最优相干得到建筑区域高度的均方根误差(RMSE)为2.77 m。在此基础上,通过仿真给出了极化干涉SAR不同处理模型下的误差影响曲线,比较了不同处理模型受误差影响的程度,并给出了合理解释,研究结果为极化干涉SAR系统设计、处理方法选择及数据应用提供了参考。     

Optimum look weighting for burst-mode and ScanSAR processing

Burst-mode and ScanSAR systems record only short pieces of Doppler histories; the energy contained in each echo ensemble and, hence, the intensity in the final burst image (look) depends on the scatterer's position relative to the time of the burst event according to the azimuth antenna pattern, an effect known as scalloping. Most systems employ a burst period short enough that adjacent looks overlap allowing for individual weighting of the looks before summation. The paper introduces a new class of look weighting functions for burst-mode and ScanSAR processing that correct for scalloping while simultaneously keeping the S/N ratio constant over azimuth and maximizing the equivalent number of looks. The achievable radiometric resolution and the sensitivity to Doppler centroid estimation errors are discussed. A 3-look example using ASAR parameters illustrates the proposed weighting functions     

Incidence angle dependence of the statistical properties of C-band HH-polarization backscattering signatures of the Baltic Sea ice

Incidence angle dependence of three statistical parameters-the mean of the backscattering coefficient (/spl sigma//spl deg/), standard deviation, and autocorrelation coefficient of texture (/spl sigma//sub T/ and /spl rho//sub T/)-of the C-band horizontal-horizontal (HH) polarization backscattering signatures of the Baltic Sea ice are investigated using RADARSAT ScanSAR Narrow images and helicopter-borne Helsinki University of Technology Scatterometer (HUTSCAT) data. The analysis of the large amount of data shows that the relationship between the mean /spl sigma//spl deg/ in decibel scale and the incidence angle in the range from 19/spl deg/ to 46/spl deg/ is usually well described by a linear model. In general, the RADARSAT and HUTSCAT results agree with each other, and they are also supported by theoretical backscattering model calculations; the more deformed the ice, the smaller the slope between /spl sigma//spl deg/ and the incidence angle, and the higher the moisture content of snow or ice, the larger the slope. The derived /spl sigma//spl deg/ incidence angle dependencies can be used to roughly compensate the /spl sigma//spl deg/ incidence angle variation in the SAR images to help their visual and automated classification. The variability of /spl sigma//sub T/ and /spl rho//sub T/ with the increasing incidence angle is insignificant compared to the variability within each ice type. Their average changes with the incidence angle are so small that, in practice, their trends do not need to be compensated. The results of this study can be utilized when developing classification algorithms for the RADARSAT ScanSAR and ENVISAT HH-polarization Wide Swath images of the Baltic Sea ice.     

基于相关系数加权观测矢量的InSAR干涉相位估计方法

 提出了一种基于相关系数加权观测矢量的InSAR干涉相位估计方法.该方法采用联合单像素模型,构造相关系数加权观测矢量,同时利用相邻像素的信息,因此具有自适应图像配准和降低相位噪声功能,因而可以在SAR图像配准精度很差(可以允许达到一个分辨单元)的条件下准确地估计相应像素间的干涉相位.仿真数据的处理结果证明了此方法的有效性.     

Estimation of doppler centroid frequency in spaceborne ScanSAR

Doppler centroid frequency is an essential parameter in the imaging processing of the Scanning mode Synthetic Aperture Radar （ScanSAR）. Inaccurate Doppler centroid frequency will result in ghost images in imaging result. In this letter, the principle and algorithms of Doppler centroid frequency estimation are introduced. Then the echo data of ScanSAR system is analyzed. Based on the algorithms of energy balancing and correlation Doppler estimator in the estimation of Doppler centroid frequency in strip mode SAR, an improved method for Doppler centroid frequency estimation in ScanSAR is proposed. The method has improved the accuracy of Doppler centroid frequency estimation in ScanSAR by zero padding between burst data. Finally, the proposed method is validated with the processing of ENVironment SATellite Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar （ENVISAT ASAR） wide swath raw data.     

Optimal “focusing” for low resolution ScanSAR

Deals with the focusing of low resolution ScanSAR data, for both detected amplitude images and interferometric applications. The SAR reference is exploited to achieve ScanSAR focusing in conventional techniques. Such techniques provide quite effective compensation of the azimuth antenna pattern (e.g. no scalloping) when the azimuth time-bandwidth product of the ScanSAR echo is large, but fail to do so as the burst shortens, being reduced to an ineffective weighting of the output. The result is an azimuth varying distortion of the focused impulse responses, a distortion that is partly compensated for in the multilook average (not available for interferometric applications) at the price of a reduction in the processed Doppler bandwidth. This paper proposes quite a different approach. A set of short kernels, each suitable for “focusing” at a specific azimuth bin, has been optimized to reconstruct source reflectivity in the minimum mean square error sense. That pseudoinversion converges to the “conventional” focusing when the burst extent is large and for short bursts, edge effects are accounted for. These azimuth-varying kernels can be suitably tuned to meet constraints in the resolution/sidelobes trade-off and have proved capable of providing fairly undistorted output and fine resolution. They better exploit the available Doppler bandwidth, maximizing the number of looks and the interferometric quality. A decomposition is suggested that implements the inverse operator as a fast preprocessing to be followed by a conventional ScanSAR processor