Polarimetric decomposition for the selection of persistent scatterers

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this paper, the issue of employing polarimetric processing methods for persistent scatterers (PS) selection is addressed. The scope of the paper regards the processing methods for PS generation by means of coherent target decomposition (CTD). The key is to exploit scatterer physical characteristics, besides scatterer coherence and stability, so as to classify them as PS utilizing as less data sets as possible. Cameron’s CTD is proposed for PS classification based on scatterers physical properties as an alternative to polarization phase difference (PPD) for it can eliminate the scatterer initial orientation angle. Additionally, provides a complete set of elemental scattering mechanisms in order to describe the physical properties of the scatterer, and thus create a more reliable PS net. These assets make Cameron’s CTD outperform PPD in exploiting scatterer physical properties for PS selection. The study also focuses on minimizing the number of used data sets for PS net generation, which led to experimenting with only two fully polarimetric SAR data sets. The results are promising enough to establish the proposed method as an auxiliary tool to be utilized prior to any classic interferometric techniques for early scene evaluation in order to decide whether the scene would be fruitful for applying permanent scatterer interferometry or not.