SAR imaging of virtual vegetation based on a 3-D coherent scattering model

In this article, we simulate the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image of virtual trees using an image-processing algorithm based on the radar coherent scattering model. To make simulations much closer to real SAR imaging, the changes of antenna observation angle and frequency bandwidth of SAR are considered in the image processing, and the antenna pattern in the azimuth plane is also taken into consideration in the scattering model. The combination of the scattering model and the image-processing algorithm will contribute to understanding the imaging result of SAR response to forest structures and to optimizing the design of the SAR sensor. Furthermore, a height extraction method from the interferometry of airborne single-pass SAR is used to extract vegetation height. Finally, the scattering amplitude and height images of virtual trees in a stand are simulated. The simulation results demonstrate that the combination of the radar coherent scattering model and the image-processing algorithm provides a reasonable interpretation of the images according to the scattering mechanism.