Generalized-Capon Method for Diff-Tomo SAR Analyses of Decorrelating Scatterers

• Main Authors: Fabrizio Lombardini, Francesco Cai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-02-01
• Series: Remote Sensing
• Subjects: SAR tomography; decorrelation; volumetric scatterers; superresolution image focusing; interferometric information extraction; multidimensional signal processing; array processing; spectral analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/4/412

In synthetic aperture radar (SAR) remote sensing, Differential Tomography (Diff-Tomo) is developing as a powerful crossing of the mature Differential SAR Interferometry and the emerged 3D SAR Tomography. Diff-Tomo produces advanced 4D (3D+Time) SAR imaging capabilities, extensively applied to urban deformation monitoring. More recently, it has been shown that, through Diff-Tomo, identifying temporal spectra of multiple height-distributed decorrelating scatterers, the important decorrelation-robust forest Tomography functionality is possible. To loosen application constraints of the related main experimented full model-based processing, and develop other functionalities, this work presents an adaptive, just semi-parametric, generalized-Capon Diff-Tomo method, first conceived at University of Pisa in 2013, for joint extraction of height and dynamical information of natural distributed (volumetric) scatterers, with its formalization and a series of insights. Particular reference is given to the important functionality of the separation of different decorrelation mechanisms in forest layers. Representative simulated and P-band forest data sample results are also shown. The new Diff-Tomo method is getting a flexible and rich decorrelation-robust Tomography functionality, and is able to profile height-varying temporal decorrelation, for significantly distributed scatterers.