Compact Polarimetric Analysis of X-Band SAR Data

Inhalt:
Compact polarimetric methods provide the ability to recover aspects of the fully polarimetric information for certain scene types from dual polarimetric collections with a mixed basis mode. The advantage of compact polarimetry is a lower collection data rate achieved by avoiding the fully polarimetric requirement of operating the radar at twice the pulse repetition frequency. The compact polarimetric performance of the mixed basis π/4 and a new dual circular polarimetric mode is investigated for fine resolution X-Band SAR data of a single scene containing grass, trees and some relatively cleared ground. A comparison of the compact polarimetric estimates with the fully polarimetric data shows that the key polarimetric information is recovered and the root mean squared error on the Cloude-Pottier entropy and α angles estimates is 0.03 and 2deg respectively.