Averaged Stokes Vector Based Polarimetric SAR Data Interpretation

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data interpretation method based on a locally averaged Stokes vector. We first propose a method to extract discriminators from all three components of the averaged Stokes vector. Based on the extracted discriminators, we build four physical interpretation layers with ascending priorities, i.e., the basic structure layer, the low-coherence targets layer, the man-made targets layer, and the low-backscattering targets layer. An intuitive final image can be generated by simply stacking the four layers in the priority order. We test the performance of the proposed method over Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array type L-band SAR (ALOS-PALSAR) data. Experimental results show that the proposed method has high interpretation performance, particularly for skew-aligned or randomly distributed buildings and isolated man-made targets such as bridges.