Polarimetric matched image filter in POL-SAR image enhancement

Abstract

When determining the nature of speckle in microwave POL-SAR image analysis, various known methods of speckle reduction are reviewed and compared for the purpose of enhancingimage quality in polarimetric matched image filtering. Basic principles of the Polarimetric Matched Image Filter (PMIF) are presented and by utilizing the now widely used NASA-JPL C-Band POL-SAR data sets, collected over the San Francisco Bay area, the PHIF concept, together with various speckle reduction methods are verified and interpreted.Specific emphasis is placed on demonstrating the efficiency and usefulness of applying the PNIF method to the optimization of image discriininants in POL-SAR image analysis.