Model-based interpretation of high-resolution SAR images of buildings

High-resolution (HR) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of urbanareas reveal a large variety of details that, although potentiallybringing a lot of information, are often very difficult to interpret.Until now, most of the research activity in this field has been devotedto the attempt to retrieve geometric information on buildings interms of their positions and sizes, by using simplified geometricalmodels. However, this approach does not allow us to fully exploitthe large amount of information present in HR SAR images. In orderto improve information retrieval from such images, and, hence, theirinterpretation, in this paper, we propose to employ a more refinedmodel that accounts for both geometrical (including fine details)and electromagnetic properties of the building. A meaningful casestudy is presented to show that the main features appearing on theSAR image of a building can be interpreted by using our geometricand electromagnetic model. In addition, a first example of retrievalof the complex dielectric constant of building materials from a SARimage is presented.     «

High-resolution (HR) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of urbanareas reveal a large variety of details that, although potentiallybringing a lot of information, are often very difficult to interpret.Until now, most of the research activity in this field has been devotedto the attempt to retrieve geometric information on buildings interms of their positions and sizes, by using simplified geometricalmodels. However, this approach does not allow us to fully exploitthe large amount of information...     »