Change detection in polarimetric SAR data and the complex Wishart distribution

K Conradsen,H Skriver,J Schou,A Aasbjerg Nielsen

doi:10.1109/igarss.2001.978111

K Conradsen, H Skriver + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1109/igarss.2001.978111

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Publication Date: Jul 9, 2001
Citations: 31	License type: other-oa

Affiliation: Technical University of Denmark

Abstract

When working with multi-look fully polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data an appropriate way of representing the backscattered signal consists of the so-called covariance matrix. For each pixel this is a 3/spl times/3 Hermitian, positive definite matrix which follows a complex Wishart distribution. Based on this distribution a test statistic for equality of two such matrices and an associated asymptotic probability for obtaining a smaller value of the test statistic are given and applied to change detection in polarimetric SAR data. In a case study EMISAR L-band data from 17 April 1998 and 20 May 1998 covering agricultural fields near Foulum, Denmark are used. The derived test statistic can be applied as a line or edge detector in fully polarimetric SAR data also.

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