Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar change detection for specific land cover types

This paper presents a supervised polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) change detection method applied to specific land cover types. For each pixel of a PolSAR image, its target scattering vector can be modeled as having a complex multivariate normal distribution. Based on this assumption, the joint distribution of two corresponding vectors in a pair of PolSAR images is derived. Then, a generalized likelihood ratio test statistic for the equality of two likelihood functions of such joint distribution is considered and a maximum likelihood distance measure for specific land cover types is presented. Subsequently, the Kittler and Illingworth minimum error threshold segmentation method is applied to extract the specific changed areas. Experiments on two repeat-pass Radarsat-2 fully polarimetric images of Suzhou, China, demonstrate that the proposed change detection method gives a good performance in determining the specific changed areas in PolSAR images, especially the areas that have changed to water.     

A new Likelihood Ratio for supervised classification of fully polarimetric SAR data: An application for sea ice type mapping

One of the potential applications of polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data is the classification of land cover, such as forest canopies, vegetation, sea ice types, and urban areas. In contrast to single or dual polarized SAR systems, full polarimetric SAR systems provide more information about the physical and geometrical properties of the imaged area. This paper proposes a new Bayes risk function which can be minimized to obtain a Likelihood Ratio (LR) for the supervised classification of polarimetric SAR data. The derived Bayes risk function is based on the complex Wishart distribution. Furthermore, a new spatial criterion is incorporated with the LR classification process to produce more homogeneous classes. The application for Arctic sea ice mapping shows that the LR and the proposed spatial criterion are able to provide promising classification results. Comparison with classification results based on the Wishart classifier, the Wishart Likelihood Ratio Test Statistic (WLRTS) proposed by Conradsen et al. (2003) and the Expectation Maximization with Probabilistic Label Relaxation (EMPLR) algorithm are presented. High overall classification accuracy of selected study areas which reaches 97.8% using the LR is obtained. Combining the derived spatial criterion with the LR can improve the overall classification accuracy to reach 99.9%. In this study, fully polarimetric C-band RADARSAT-2 data collected over Franklin Bay, Canadian Arctic, is used.     

Classification of dual- and single polarized SAR images by incorporating visual features

Fully and partially polarimetric SAR data in combination with textural features have been used extensively for terrain classification. However, there is another type of visual feature that has so far been neglected from polarimetric SAR classification: Color. It is a common practice to visualize polarimetric SAR data by color coding methods and thus it is possible to extract powerful color features from such pseudo color images so as to gather additional crucial information for an improved terrain classification. In this paper, we investigate the application of several individual visual features over different pseudo color generated images along with the traditional SAR and texture features for a novel supervised classification application of dual- and single-polarized SAR data. We then draw the focus on evaluating the effects of the applied pseudo coloring methods on the classification performance. An extensive set of experiments show that individual visual features or their combination with traditional SAR features introduce a new level of discrimination and provide noteworthy improvement of classification accuracies within the application of land use and land cover classification for dual- and single-pol image data.     

利用SVM的全极化、双极化与单极化SAR图像分类性能的比较

支持向量机(SVM)以其在小训练样本时良好的分类性能,目前已广泛应用于多个领域.本文在极化SAR图像特征提取基础上,将SVM应用于极化SAR图像分类,定性和定量地比较了全极化、双极化和单极化SAR图像的分类性能,分析了不同的极化组合对分类结果的影响,并根据地物极化散射特性分析了分类精度差异的成因.实测极化SAR数据的实验结果表明,全极化数据能获得最好的分类性能,双极化次之,单极化最低,且在某些情况下,双极化与全极化分类性能接近.     

LSSVM算法在极化SAR影像分类中的应用

最小二乘支持向量机(LSSVM)是针对标准支持向量机(SVM)算法训练时间长的问题而提出的一种改进算法。针对SVM算法在极化SAR影像分类时存在效率较低的问题,以目标分解理论为基础,对LSSVM算法应用于极化SAR影像分类的有效性进行了研究。结果表明,对于极化SAR影像分类,LSSVM算法与SVM算法的分类精度相当,但时间效率远优于SVM算法,并且对参数的调整也具有更好的稳定性,同时泛化能力良好。     

全极化SAR图像的山地低矮植被区域土壤含水量估计

山区土壤含水量对山区植被生长监测、滑坡预测等工作具有重要意义,因此针对山地低矮植被区域,提出了全极化SAR图像的土壤含水量估计方法。为解决山地区域SAR图像几何形变和极化旋转问题,根据入射角、坡度、坡向信息定义了可测区域与不可测区域,并对可测区域后向散射系数进行校正。其次以密西根模型为基础,发展了低矮植被的散射模型。在假定植被和土壤特征不变的情况下,基于此散射模型并结合校正数据建立了山区土壤含水量反演方法。结果表明,模型反演的土壤含水量和实验点实测值基本一致,两个实验点反演值分别为14%和15%,实测值为11.45%和15.80%,能够满足一般应用的需求。     

基于Freeman散射熵和各向异性度的极化SAR影像分类算法研究

极化SAR影像中阴影、水体和裸露的耕地3种地物类型有非常相似的极化散射特性,常规基于非相干分解的分类方法难以将其有效地区分。对此,本文引入基于Freeman分解的散射熵Hf和各向异性度Af两个特征参数,并将其用于极化SAR影像分类。首先利用Hf和Af参数将阴影和水体提取出来,然后将其他地物按散射机制分为3大类,并对每一类再次利用Hf和Af参数进行细分,最后通过基于Wishart分布的聚类和迭代分类,得到最终的分类结果。通过利用Radarsat-2在河南登封获取的全极化SAR数据进行试验,表明该算法执行效率高,能够有效地区分阴影、水体和裸露的耕地,并且对其他地物类型也有很好的分类效果。     

引入商空间粒度计算的全极化SAR影像分类

为了充分利用不同极化特征信息,并将其有效地结合,提出一种结合粒度计算的全极化合成孔径雷达（synthetic aperture radar,SAR）影像分类方法。在不同极化目标分解特征组合的基础上引入影像纹理信息,利用光滑支持向量机（smooth support vector machine,SSVM）对不同特征组合进行类别划分获得粗粒度空间,采用商空间对粗粒度进行合并;根据全极化SAR影像分布特性,以相干矩阵作为新的特征矢量,利用Wishart测度代替传统欧氏距离对差异粒度进行推理,通过合并推理结果与合成论域,获得精细分类结果。采用L波段San Francisco地区和荷兰Flevoland地区的全极化SAR影像进行分类试验,结果表明:利用SSVM算法对全极化SAR影像进行粗粒度划分,并采用Wishart距离对差异粒度推理综合,总体分类效果优于结合纹理信息的Cloude及Yamaguchi4分类结果,且优于基于线性特征融合进行监督分类方法。     

RADARSAT-2全极化SAR数据地表覆盖分类

全极化合成孔径雷达(SAR)能够测量每一观测目标的全散射矩阵,但地物分布的复杂性往往造成不同地物具有相似的后向散射信号特征,因而增加了地物信息提取的难度。文中基于北京地区的RADARSAT-2全极化雷达数据,在图像处理的特征分解的基础上,利用PolSARPro软件提取包含地物散射机理信息的各种极化参数,按H-α、A-α、H-A对全极化SAR影像进行基于散射机理的分类,继而将分类结果作为Wishart H/A/α、Wishart H/α的初始类别划分。最后,采用决策树分类算法对基于Wishart分布的监督分类及以上两种分类算法进行融合处理,从而实现地物的分类,并将分类结果与经典的分类算法进行对比分析,验证了文中方法的有效性。     

综合多特征的极化SAR图像随机森林分类算法

为抑制相干斑噪声对极化SAR图像分类结果的干扰,本文提出一种综合多特征的极化SAR图像随机森林分类方法。该方法首先利用简单线性迭代聚类(SLIC)算法生成超像素作为分类单元;然后,基于高维极化特征图像,利用训练好的随机森林模型,统计决策树的分类投票数,计算各超像素的类别概率;最后,利用超像素间的空间邻域特征,采用概率松弛算法(PLR)迭代修正超像素的类别后验概率,并依据最大后验概率(MAP)准则得到分类结果;实现综合利用超像素和空间邻域特征,降低相干斑噪声干扰的极化SAR图像分类方法。实验对比结果表明:本文方法能得有效抑制极化SAR图像中相干斑噪声的干扰,得到高精度且光滑连续的分类结果。     

利用随机森林回归进行极化SAR土壤水分反演

全极化合成孔径雷达影像能够提供地物丰富的极化信息,挖掘这些信息在地表参数反演中的作用是目前相关领域的研究趋势之一。针对冬小麦区域的不同植被覆盖情况,利用随机森林回归对常用极化特征在土壤水分反演中的重要性进行评估,并在此基础上进行特征选择,挑选优化的极化特征组合,构建了高精度的土壤水分反演模型。实验结果显示,由重要性评分较高的极化特征所组成的反演模型能得到均方根误差（root mean square error,RMSE）小于6%的反演精度,比只输入传统线极化后向散射系数的模型在不同时相、不同数据集的精度都有所提高。与支持向量回归和人工神经网络模型进行比较,利用随机森林回归进行重要性评分与土壤水分反演的效果更好。     

基于CASE推理的多时相星载SAR影像分类

提出了一种基于案例(CASE)推理的多时相SAR影像分类方法.选用北京地区2000年(4景)和2004年(3景)的多时相Radarsat-1 SAR影像及相应地理基础分类图作为数据进行实验,结果表明,该方法能得到较好的SAR影像分类结果.分类总体精度可望达到85%.     

Scattering property based contextual PolSAR speckle filter

Reliability of the scattering model based polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) speckle filter depends upon the accurate decomposition and classification of the scattering mechanisms. This paper presents an improved scattering property based contextual speckle filter based upon an iterative classification of the scattering mechanisms. It applies a Cloude-Pottier eigenvalue-eigenvector decomposition and a fuzzy H/α classification to determine the scattering mechanisms on a pre-estimate of the coherency matrix. The H/α classification identifies pixels with homogeneous scattering properties. A coarse pixel selection rule groups pixels that are either single bounce, double bounce or volume scatterers. A fine pixel selection rule is applied to pixels within each canonical scattering mechanism. We filter the PolSAR data and depending on the type of image scene (urban or rural) use either the coarse or fine pixel selection rule. Iterative refinement of the Wishart H/α classification reduces the speckle in the PolSAR data. Effectiveness of this new filter is demonstrated by using both simulated and real PolSAR data. It is compared with the refined Lee filter, the scattering model based filter and the non-local means filter. The study concludes that the proposed filter compares favorably with other polarimetric speckle filters in preserving polarimetric information, point scatterers and subtle features in PolSAR data.     

相向飞行全极化SAR图像对建筑物的立体重构

用多方向飞行的全极化SAR图像可能提取特定三维目标的高度与位置信息,进而实现目标物的几何立体重构。全极化SAR图像数据与单极化SAR相比,可以选择多种极化组合数据,提供对于特定目标几何特征敏感的数据类型,通过多方向飞行SAR图像反演该目标或目标群的高度与位置信息。本文用两幅相向飞行的PI-SAR(日本机载极化与干涉SAR,X波段、1.5m分辨率)图像,提取日本仙台电视塔高度、日本东北大学建筑物群的立体重构。     

全卷积网络和条件随机场相结合的全极化SAR土地覆盖分类

针对经典全卷积网络(fully convolution network,FCN)分类精度低、效果差,以及传统的极化合成孔径雷达(PolSAR)土地覆盖分类方法未充分考虑地物散射特性的问题,提出了一种结合改进FCN和条件随机场(conditional random field,CRF)的全极化SAR土地覆盖分类算法。首先,利用Freeman分解和Pauli分解建模全极化SAR影像,同时提取各分解对应的散射特征,参考Freeman分解散射功率获取其主散射分量对应的主散射地物;同时,借鉴在图像分类领域中具有卓越表现的FCN-Vgg19-8s网络,考虑其高层卷积参数量大和低层卷积模型参数优化程度不足,通过在高层和中层分别构建多尺度卷积组和代价函数设计了FCN-MD-8s网络,保证对整体模型参数进行降维和优化;以Freeman分解散射机理特征为基准,采用级连式迁移学习结构,实现FCN-MD-8s网络的模型训练和测试;然后,根据主散射分量所对应的主散射地物,在各分量预测图中提取出主特征地物,得到分量地物分类结果,并将其进行叠加得到全局粗分类;最后,利用全连接CRF结合Pauli相干分解重建假彩色图,对全局粗分类进行全局像素类别转移获得细分类结果。通过对分类结果定性和定量分析,可知提出算法具有有效性和可行性。     

Crop classification from full-year fully-polarimetric L-band UAVSAR time-series using the Random Forest algorithm

Accurate and timely information on the distribution of crop types is vital to agricultural management, ecosystem services valuation and food security assessment. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems have become increasingly popular in the field of crop monitoring and classification. However, the potential of time-series polarimetric SAR data has not been explored extensively, with several open scientific questions (e.g. the optimal combination of image dates for crop classification) that need to be answered. In this research, the usefulness of full year (both 2011 and 2014) L-band fully-polarimetric Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) data in crop classification was fully investigated over an agricultural region with a heterogeneous distribution of crop categories. In total, 11 crop classes including tree crops (almond and walnut), forage crops (grass, alfalfa, hay, and clover), a spring crop (winter wheat), and summer crops (corn, sunflower, tomato, and pepper), were discriminated using the Random Forest (RF) algorithm. The SAR input variables included raw linear polarization channels as well as polarimetric parameters derived from Cloude-Pottier (CP) and Freeman-Durden (FD) decompositions. Results showed clearly that the polarimetric parameters yielded much higher classification accuracies than linear polarizations. The combined use of all variables (linear polarizations and polarimetric parameters) produced the maximum overall accuracy of 90.50 % and 84.93 % for 2011 and 2014, respectively, with a significant increase of approximately 8 percentage points compared with linear polarizations alone. The variable importance provided by the RF illustrated that the polarimetric parameters had a far greater influence than linear polarizations, with the CP parameters being much more important than the FD parameters. The most important acquisitions were the images dated during the peak biomass stage (July and August) when the differences in structural characteristics between most crops were the largest. At the same time, the images in spring (April and May) and autumn (October) also contributed to the crop classification since they respectively provided unique information for discriminating fruit crops (almond and walnut) as well as summer crops (corn, sunflower, and tomato). As a result, the combined use of only four acquisitions (dated May, July, August, and October for 2011 and April, June, August, and October for 2014) was adequate to achieve a nearly-optimal overall accuracy. In light of the promising classification accuracies demonstrated in this research, it becomes increasingly viable to provide accurate and up-to-date crops inventories over large areas based solely on multitemporal polarimetric SAR.     

顾及分类器参数的全极化SAR图像特征选择与分类

全极化SAR获取的信息量远多于传统SAR,但信息量的增加并不能确保分类精度的提高,如何有效进行特征选择至关重要。针对自适应特征选择问题,提出一种顾及分类器参数的特征选择和分类方法。该方法以支持向量数为评估依据,结合遗传算法进行特征选择,并同时对分类器参数进行寻优;最后利用优选的特征集和模型参数进行分类。为验证算法的有效性,利用两组全极化数据进行了监督分类实验。实验结果表明,提出方法降低了SVM分类器对自身参数的敏感性,而且能在较少特征个数下具备良好的泛化性能,分类精度优于未经过特征选择和参数优化的方法。     

利用目标分解特征的全极化SAR海冰分类

特征提取及其选择是SAR海冰分类的重要步骤之一。在众多特征中选取有效特征,进而构建表达地物类型的特征空间是提高分类精度的关键。为此,本文提出一种基于目标分解特征的全极化SAR海冰分类算法。首先,对全极化SAR数据进行多视化处理及滤波操作,生成相干矩阵;其次,对相干矩阵进行目标分解,并针对分解结果提取散射特征参数,进而构建特征空间;再次,通过对所提取的特征进行统计相关性分析,并对高相关特征采用PCA降维,以优化特征组合;最后,设计BP神经网络分类器,并将所得的优化特征矢量作为输入,海冰类别为输出,实现海冰分类。本文以格陵兰中部海域作为研究试验区域,采用L波段ALOS PALSAR全极化数据。通过对本文算法与对比算法的分类结果进行定性定量分析,可以得出本文所选取的特征对海冰识别较好。此外,通过对利用各个不同特征海冰分类结果的性能分析,可以得出基于散射模型的目标分解比基于特征值的H/α/A分解更有助于海冰分类。     

Building characterization using L-band polarimetric interferometric SAR data

This letter proposes a building characterization technique for L-band polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. This characterization consists of building identification and height estimation. Initially, a polarimetric interferometric segmentation is performed to isolate buildings from their surroundings. This classification identifies three basic categories: single bounce, double bounce, and volume diffusion. In order to compensate for the misclassifications among the volume and the double-bounce classes, interferometric phases given by the high-resolution Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques (ESPRIT) method are analyzed. Once buildings are localized, a phase-to-height procedure is applied to retrieve building height information. The method is validated using E-SAR, German Aerospace Center (DLR) fully polarimetric SAR data, at L-band, repeat-pass mode, over the Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, test site, with a spatial resolution of 1.5 m in range and azimuth. More than 80% of buildings are retrieved with acceptably accurate height estimates.     

基于散射分量系数的极化SAR数据分类

分析了传统的基于散射功率大小的极化SAR数据分类算法,提出了一种基于散射分量系数的改进算法,实现了全极化SAR数据的有效性分类。