Unsupervised PolInSAR classification based on optimal coherence set

Aiming to solve the misclassification problems of unsupervised polarimetric Wishart classification algorithm based on Freeman decomposition, an unsupervised Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferomery (PolInSAR) classification algorithm based on optimal coherence set parameters is studied and proposed. This algorithm uses the result of Freeman decomposition to divide the image into three basic categories including surface scattering, volume scattering, and double-bounce. Then, the PolInSAR optimal coherence set parameters are used to finely divide each of the three basic categories into 9 categories, and the whole image is divided into 27 categories. Because both the Freeman decomposition result and optimal coherence set parameters indicate specific scattering characteristics, the whole image is merged into 16 categories based on physical meaning. At last, the Wishart cluster is employed to obtain the final classification result. To preserve the purity of scattering characteristics, pixels with similar scattering characteristics are restricted to be classified with other pixels. The final classification results effectively resolve the misclassification problem, not only the buildings can be effectively distinguished from vegetation in urban areas, but also the road is well distinguished from grass. In this paper, the E-SAR PolInSAR data of German Aerospace Center (DLR), are used to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.