Fast subpixel registration method for InSAR images

In conventional registration methods, image interpolation is used to extract subpixel offsets which lead to the limitation that the registration accuracy is restricted by the interpolation unit. Moreover, the computational burden is heavy when high accuracy is demanded. In order to reduce the computational load, we propose an efficient offset estimation method for interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) image subpixel registration. Firstly, a novel cost function continuously varying with offsets is established by integrating the empirical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the interpolation operation. This suggests a more accurate registration since the accuracy of the estimated offsets does not depend on the interpolation unit. Secondly, an efficient bi-iterative algorithm is employed to solve the cost function in the continuous domain. The subpixel offsets associated with the maximum of the cost function can be exactly obtained with low computational complexity. Simulated and real data are tested to illustrate the good performance and computational efficiency of the proposed method.