Polarimetric coherence pattern: A visualization tool for PolSAR data investigation

Abstract

Polarimetric coherence, which has the potential to reveal physical properties of scatterers, is an important source for polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data investigation. Target orientation relative to the PolSAR illumination direction is one key factor affecting the polarimetric coherence degree. The relative orientation between a sensor and a target can be adjusted using the rotating processing along the radar line of sight. The corresponding polarimetric coherence can be varied in the rotation domain for roll-variant scatterers. The variation of polarimetric coherence in the rotation domain contains rich hidden information which is seldom considered. This work focuses on the hidden feature exploration of polarimetric coherence in the rotation domain. A framework including a visualization tool named polarimetric coherence pattern which is able to view the polarimetric coherence properties in the rotation domain and a set of parameters to characterize the polarimetric coherence pattern has been proposed. Experimental studies validate the efficiency of the proposal.