Scattering characterization of obliquely oriented buildings from PolSAR data using eigenvalue-related model

Abstract

Scattering characterization of obliquely oriented buildings (OOBs) from polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data is challenging since the general double-bounce scattering does not support their dominant scattering mechanism. In this paper, a physical scattering model combining the eigenvalues of coherency matrix is proposed to characterize the scattering of OOBs. The coherency matrix is first operated by eigenvalue decomposition and a refined OOB descriptor is presented based on these eigenvalues. Considering the actual proportions of co-polarization and cross-polarization components, the descriptor is then adopted to modify the matrix elements of the well-known cross scattering model, thus introducing the OOB scattering model. Finally, strategies of model parameter solution are designed and the involved decomposition is complete accordingly. The proposed method is tested on spaceborne and airborne PolSAR data and the results confirm its effectiveness, which clearly call for further research and application.