Surface height change estimation method using band-divided coherence function with full polarimetric SAR images

Abstract

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is one of the most powerful tools for microwave imaging issue, being applicable to terrain surface measurement regardless of the weather conditions. Recently, the coherent change detection (CCD) method has been widely developed aiming at surface change detection by comparing the plural complex SAR images with the same scanning orbit. However, in the case of a general damage assessment by an earthquake or a mudslide, it requires not only a change detection but also a height change quantity of changed surface. To address with this issue, this paper proposes a novel height change estimation method with a CCD model based on the Pauli decomposition of fully polarimetric band-divided SAR images. The experimental results, assuming the 1/100 scale down model of the X-band SAR system in anechoic chamber, show that the proposed method achieves more accurate height change estimation, compared with those obtained by the method using single polarimetric data.