Multi-chromatic analysis polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MCA-PolInSAR) for urban classification

ABSTRACT One of the problems of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) polarimetric decomposition, is that oriented urban areas and vegetation signatures are decomposed into the same volume scattering mechanism. Such indetermination makes it difficult to distinguish vegetation from the oblique urban areas with respect to the radar illumination direction within the volume scattering mechanism. This event occurs because oriented targets exhibit similar polarimetric responses. This paper presents an improvement of the PolSAR decomposition scheme which permits the performing of more accurate classification. The method uses the information existing form the interference generated between two Doppler sub-aperture SAR images. This interferometric polarimetric SAR (PolInSAR) multi-chromatic analysis (MCA-PolInSAR) signal processing method permits the efficient separation of oriented buildings from vegetation yielding considerably improved results in which oriented urban areas are recognized, from volume scattering, as double-bounce objects. Results also show a considerable improvement in the robustness of classification and also in terms of definition and precision.