Quantitative assessment of interferometric SAR images registration accuracy

Accurate registration of images is very important for interferometric SAR topography mapping. The interferogram (phase pattern) extracted from the conjugate product of two complex images registered with different registration algorithms will be slightly different too. In this paper, we investigate the theoretical relationship between registration accuracy and probability of residue. Based on the derived model, we present that the number of residues can be used as a criterion to judge the registration accuracy and select the optimal interferogram. A pair of ERS1/2 SAR images has been used to illustrate the effectiveness of this means.