Conventional imaging radars operating with a single polarization antenna measures only the amplitude of the returned
signal. Therefore, accurate discrimination between similar scattering returns is difficult and, depending on the system's
polarization configuration, many features go undetected. Recent developments in radar technology have led to the
development of imaging radar polarimeters, that is, radars that are capable of imaging the Earth's surface at any and all
possible polarizations through antenna synthesis techniques. The capability enables the complete measurement of a
target's polarization properties, thus permitting a much more detailed understanding of the electromagnetic scattering
process. The work presented in this paper describes the concept of polarimetric signatures, polarimetric scattering matrix
and simple theoretical signatures from various models. The Stokes' matrix for individual class of pixels was generated
using the amplitude and relative phase of the scattered wave. Based on the Stokes' matrices of the full polarimetric Lband
airborne SAR data, polarization signatures were extracted and analyzed for four land cover classes: urban area,
forest, agriculture fallow and water body. These signatures were compared with the theoretical polarization signatures
and the scattering mechanisms were studied. The scattering mechanism of these land cover classes was also analysed
based on the images generated by Pauli as well as Freeman-Durden target decomposition.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.