Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar Interpretation and Recognition: Advances and Perspectives

Abstract

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which can acquire fully polarimetric information, is widely used in civilian and military fields, such as earth observation, damage assessment, and reconnaissance. Major Chinese universities, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the industrial sector, and user units have conducted research in this field and obtained numerous remarkable achievements. This work reviews the recent progress of research in the field of polarimetric SAR imaging interpretation and recognition. For target scattering interpretation, theories of polarimetric target decomposition and polarimetric rotation domain interpretation are introduced. For polarimetric SAR application, the technologies of ship detection, land cover classification, and building damage assessment, which are based on the interpretation tools, are summarized in combination with the authors’ own research. Finally, the future development perspectives of polarimetric SAR interpretation and recognition are briefly discussed.