Polarimetric Modelling and Analysis of Hard Target Detection with Spaceborne SAR

Norway has been a pioneering country to use SAR satellites operationally. ERS-1, ERS-2, RADARSAT-1, and lately ENVISAT have been used to monitor land and ocean. This has been a success, which is based on basic research that has made it possible to exploit satellite radar images very fast. Future satellites such as RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X will be more advanced than their predecessors with respect to resolution and polarimetric capabilities. For the first time fully polarimetric data will be available fro m space. The project is work that will be performed during a stay at Defence Research & Development Canada (DRDC), and is part of my PhD thesis which is divided into two main parts: 1) Polarimetric scattering modelling Analytical and Numerical calculation s of scattering matrices based on Maxwell's equations, with a specified geometry and physical properties of the reflecting medium, will be performed. Very high bandwidth SAR can be handled in these calculations. Unique software, the Extended Exact Transfe r Function (EETF), at FFI can be adapted to generate polarimetric SAR raw data using the scattering matrix and background clutter as input. The signature of objects with varying aspect angles can then be studied after SAR processing of the simulated raw d ata. Alternating polarization with ENVISAT and full-polarization with RADARSAT-2 or TerraSAR-X can be simulated. 2) Polarimetric SAR data analysis Time series of alternating polarization ENVISAT data can be used to study e.g. signatures of oil production ships and other hard targets on land. A preparation study of some techniques for interpreting fully polarimetric information from RADARSAT-2 or TerraSAR-X must be done. The combination of the different polarization channels (VV,HH,VH,HV) for optimal detec tion will be an important problem. Analysis of signatures of targets in RADARSAT-2 or TerraSAR-X images can be done when data are available in 2007.