Processing multichannel radar images by modified vector sigma filter for soil erosion degree determination

A novel vector filter called modified vector sigma filter is proposed for processing the multichannel remote sensing radar images. It is demonstrated through simulations and real data examples that the proposed filter is able to provide an excellent combination of properties. It possesses efficient suppression of multiplicative noise and good edge preservation. Moreover, it simultaneously ensures an ability to remove spikes from images and excellent preservation of fine details even if they are characterized by rather low contrasts. These features occur to be useful for further interpretation of multichannel radar images, e.g. for determination of bare soil characteristics like erosion state. For simulated images it is shown that the application of the modified vector sigma filter is preferable in respect with its componentwise counterpart as the former technique provides less misclassification errors.