SAR Compact Polarimetry for Change Detection and Characterization

Coherent and incoherent exploitation of complex-valued, synthetic aperture radar imagery separated by temporal and/or spatial baselines can provide significant information for change detection. The majority of the existing techniques, however, deal with the single-channel coherency or correlation for change analysis. We develop change detection/change techniques by incorporating the target polarimetric response. The formalism allows straightforward application to quad-pol, dual-pol, and hybrid-pol (compact-pol) imagery. Our aim is to develop polarimetric change detection and change characterization methodologies utilizing a general polarimetric framework that is suitable for quad, dual, and compact polarimetry.