Understanding Synthetic Aperture Radar Images

Written for SAR system designers and remote sensing specialists, this practical reference shows you how to produce higher quality SAR images using data-driven algorithms, and how to apply powerful new techniques to measure and analyze SAR image content. The book describes how SAR imagery is formed, how SAR processing affects image properties, and gives you specific guidance in selecting and applying today's most sophisticated analytical techniques. By helping you to quickly assess which components of an SAR image should be measured, the book enables you to devote more time and energy to the real task of image interpretation and analysis. Now includes a CD-ROM featuring a 2-month free license to InfoPACK Version 1.2! InfoPACK, developed by Chris Oliver, is a SAR image interpretation software suite which exploits and extends the principles described in the book, enabling the user to run many of the algorithms. It features an easy to use GUI, image viewer and versatile scripting language, making applications development easy and fast. Particular aspects of interest include segmentation, classification (supervised and unsupervised), speckle reduction and a host of techniques for data fusion. Routines within InfoPACK include: * Intensity Segmentation (single image; multitemporal, multipolarization) * Speckle Reduction * Texture Segmentation * Segmentation Postprocessing * Classification * Edge Detection * Point Target Detection * Large Area Change Detection Also included are a variety of low-level filters and functions for image manipulation and arithmetic operations. Key Features of the Book * Filled with real-world examples from various SAR systems, the book reveals sophisticated, proven techniques for: * SAR filtering, parameter estimation, image reconstruction, segmentation, and classification * Evaluating measurement algorithms to help make better algorithm selections * Applying powerful speckle removal methods to airborne and spaceborne SAR data

Review :
..".This is a book that I strongly recommend -- and one that should be widely read. The title says it all -- with special attention to the last word -- images. It is not about synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, nor about the physics of microwave interaction (although the former is neatly summarized in early chapters). The authors have done a good job at providing a clear exposition of the SAR imaging process. Or, as summarized by Thuy Le Toan in the Foreword, 'an integrated book that brings together both the basic properties of SAR images related to image formation and those related to scene properties.' The extraction of the information contained within SAR imagery is the book's prime focus, approaching the task from a generalized perspective that concentrates on the quantitative and statistical relationships between the image, the imaging process, and the target scene. Having said that, the authors do not consider abstract data analysis to be of much practical use, but rather they have tried to adopt such a rigorous approach throughout this book, but always with concern for the validation of a technique and its relevance to applications...."