Introduction
Radar polarimetry is defined as the science and techniques involved in
measuring and analyzing the complex scattering matrix of pixels in a radar
image (CCRS 2008). The microwave energy from a radar system includes
wavelengths within approximate range of 1cm to 1m and is capable of
penetrating the atmosphere under virtually all conditions depending on the
wavelengths involved (Lillesand et. al. 2004). The other advantages of radar
over the optical sensors are that radar operates at user-specified times and
provides unique information as it senses wavelengths outside the visible
portion of the EMR spectrum (Geog 633 2008).
The radar transmits either horizontally polarized (H) or vertically polarized (V) microwave radiation which can then generate a back-scattered wave with a variety of polarizations. Any polarizations on either transmission or reception can be synthesized by using H and V components with a total of four combinations of transmit and receive polarizations (CCRS 2008). In this study we focus on dual-polarized and fully polarized data sets.
For the purpose of this assignment, we have two types of multi-polarized imagery of which one is dual-polarized and the other is polarimetric. The dual polarized data is from Germany taken by ENVISAT-ASAR sensor and is provided with a header file. The polarimetric data set is from an unknown area taken by Convair-580. The main objectives of this study are to explore the differences between multi-polarized imagery using PWS and PCI Geomatica software package, to examine how different polarizations can be used to understand the physical properties of the features, and to understand how the “polarization signature" of targets provides a convenient way of visualizing a target's scattering properties.
Read entire article (It is password protected. Please contact me for liable access to this article.)
