Maximum likelihood multi-baseline SAR interferometry

Abstract

A technique to provide interferometry by combining multiple images of the same area is proposed. This technique exploits all the images jointly and performs an optimal spectral shift pre-processing to remove most of the decorrelation for distributed targets. Its applications are mainly for DEM generation at centimetric accuracy, and for differential interferometry. The major requirement is that targets are coherent over all the images: this may be the case for current multi-pass over desert areas, or better for the case of images coming from future short revisit time systems (constellations, cart-wheel, geosynchronous SAR etc.).