Clutter discrimination in polarimetric SAR imagery

David Blacknell; Robert J.A. Tough

doi:10.1117/12.227127

21 November 1995 Clutter discrimination in polarimetric SAR imagery

David Blacknell, Robert J.A. Tough

Proceedings Volume 2584, Synthetic Aperture Radar and Passive Microwave Sensing; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.227127
Event: Satellite Remote Sensing II, 1995, Paris, France

Abstract

Polarimetric SAR images will contain extended regions of apparently homogeneous clutter arising, perhaps, from areas of vegetation or uniformly driven expanses of water. Such regions may contain localized clutter variations which indicate the presence of features of interest such as changes in vegetation density due to environmental effects, damping of the sea surface due to the presence of pollutants or the effects of partially concealed land-based or maritime military targets. It is thus of interest to develop techniques which can discriminate localized clutter features from the background clutter. If the distribution parameter values are known for both background and feature then the likelihood ratio method can be used. Frequently, however, the feature parameter values are unknown in which case one option is to use simply the background likelihood. In both cases, quadratic test statistics result which are analyzed to allow a comparison of theoretical performances. A second option is to introduce a probability distribution for the feature parameter values. Optimum performance will result if the assumed and true distributions match exactly but any mismatch may considerably reduce the performance. Simulations are used to investigate this effect. In conclusion, the paper assesses the various discrimination techniques in terms of complexity, prior knowledge requirements and performance.

Citation Download Citation

David Blacknell and Robert J.A. Tough "Clutter discrimination in polarimetric SAR imagery", Proc. SPIE 2584, Synthetic Aperture Radar and Passive Microwave Sensing, (21 November 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.227127

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available