Integration of 3D data in SAR mission planning and image interpretation in urban areas

State-of-the-art airborne SAR sensors provide high-resolution groundmapping data. This offers the opportunity of using this technologyfor the analysis of built-up areas. However, especially at buildinglocations different SAR specific phenomena like layover, shadow,and multipath-propagation burden the interpretation of the SAR imageryeven for experts. In order to consider such effects in the analysisand the geocoding of SAR data, high-resolution information aboutthe 3D structure of the urban scene is required. Three dimensionalelevation data from a GIS can be provided in different representations,like DEM (raster data) or city models (vector data). In this paper,the benefit of GIS data for the SAR mission planning and the analysisof acquired SAR data are discussed. For the first task, the SAR acquisitionparameters are optimized a priori with respect to the best mappingof a local area or a certain object class. For this optimization,a large number of simulations with systematically varying aspectand viewing angles are carried out. For the second task, the 2D and3D context information are fused with the acquired SAR imagery tosupport the interpretation for a change detection task. Additionally,simulated features of man-made objects are offered to the image interpreterfor comparison with the data. The feasibility of different kindsof GIS data for these purposes is discussed.     «

State-of-the-art airborne SAR sensors provide high-resolution groundmapping data. This offers the opportunity of using this technologyfor the analysis of built-up areas. However, especially at buildinglocations different SAR specific phenomena like layover, shadow,and multipath-propagation burden the interpretation of the SAR imageryeven for experts. In order to consider such effects in the analysisand the geocoding of SAR data, high-resolution information aboutthe 3D structure of the urban scen...     »