Studies On Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometric And Polarimetric Interferometric Techniques

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) investigates the transverse vectorial nature of plane EM waves and provides the complex scattering matrix of a scatterer. Scattering polarimetry is sensitive to the shape, orientation, and dielectric properties of scatters. SAR interferometry is an established technique for the estimation of the height location of scatterers, through the phase difference in images acquired from spatially separated locations at either end of a baseline. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) can provide accurate digital three-dimensional topographic measurement with all weather conditions day and night. PolSAR and InSAR techniques have been hot researching topics in the area of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing in recent years.Polarimetric techniques are introduced into interferometric applications in Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (Pol-InSAR). Pol-InSAR techniques make the interferometric analysis of each pixel for various polarization combinations. Since the polarimetric response is sensitive to the scattering mechanism, detailed scattering characteristics can be estimated by using polarimetric interferometry. The interferometric analysis of a full coherent polarimetric data set enables the combination of the final structure properties and the spatial information of the targets. Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry is a potential technique, which not only improves the accuracy of the interferometric measurements but also allows a more sophisticated physical interpretation of scattering mechanism. Pol-InSAR has gained more and more a wider recognition since S.R.Cloude and K.P.Papathanassiou first introduced polarimetric interferometry in 1997. The development of polariemtric SAR interferometry is progressing rapidly and now Pol-InSAR technique has become another hot topic in SAR researching area. Pol-InSAR has much wide prospective applications and valuable researching aspects, with lots of incomparable advantages that neither polarimetry nor interferometry alone can provide.SAR interferometric and polarimetric interferometric techniques are detailed discussed in this dissertation. Following the introduction of the basic principles of SAR polarimetry and SAR interferometry, the characteristics of InSAR system is comprehensively researched. A lot of parameters related to the research of the interferometric phase difference are formulated and analyzed in detail. The factors that affect the correlation of InSAR system are discussed comprehensively. The effects caused by all kinds of decorrelation factors are analyzed. A simple and effective method to optimize the parameters of InSAR system is proposed in this dissertaion, based on the analysis of the sensitivity of the estimated height to errors in the knowledge of the various interferometer parameters. This method is validated by the parameters of ERS-1. The main purpose of this thoroughly studies of InSAR system's properties is to comprehensively consider the main factors that affect the performance of InSAR system, which will be helpful to the design of InSAR systems. Several schemes, which use small satellites flying in formation to acquire global three-dimensional imaging, are also proposed in this dissertation, followed by the analysis and selection of the system parameters of one of the three small satellites. The primary studies on the methods that use small satellites flying in formation to implement global 3D measurements are developed in order to provide some valuable reference for the researches of the space-based integrated information network. The flows of processing InSAR data are also briefly introduced.The principles of the Pol-InSAR techniques are provided and the experimental researches are made based on the full polarimetric interferometric data acquired by SIR-C/X-SAR system. The results of the experiments are then discussed in detail. The applications of polarimetrtic interferometry in the classification of the land cover of SAR images are studies in the end of th...