THE TEXTURAL ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION AIRSAR IMAGES
= d M n ^ : . - ih
Zhao Zheng *, Zhang JiXian?, Huang GuoMan?, WANG Rong-bin"
* Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, 100039 Beijing 16 Beitaiping Road, China -
zhengzhaochina@163.com
"China Land Surveying and Planning Institute, 100039 Beijing 16 Beitaiping Road, China-
wangrongbin@china.com.en
Commission II, WG 11/2
KEY WORDS: SAR, High resolution, Texture, Analysis, Interpretation, Mapping
ABSTRACT:
This paper goes deep into the airborne SAR (AIRSAR) imagery mechanism, and from the application requirement of surveying and
mapping, stresses solving the key technology of AIRSAR application ----- textural analysis and interpretation. Regarding AIRSAR
images as experimental data, this paper analyses the texture information of high resolution images through texture analysis methods.
An example of AIRSAR image of an area in China and its interpretation from texture is shown that the high resolution imaging radar
system designed not only for experimental purposes but also for practical use. This contribution will provide further insights
regarding the uses and applications of remote sensing AIRSAR data for topographic mapping purposes.
1. INTRODUCTION
From the end of 20 century to the beginning of 21 century,
owing to the great breakthrough of SAR (Synthetic Aperture
Radar) technology especially navigation! position location and
sensor platform pose control technology, the foreground
becomes suddenly clear on applying high-resolution AIRSAR
and INSAR technology to topography surveying. The AIRSAR
system can attain significantly high resolution through the use
of advanced signal processing such as aperture synthesizing and
pulse compression. It’s of great economic and social
significance for SAR with all-weather capturing data to solve
image data acquisition with a scale of 1:10000~1:5000 in the
difficult districts of aerial photogrammetry, and shorten the
basic scales mapping and map updating periods. This paper
goes deep into the AIRSAR imagery mechanism, and from the
application requirement of surveying and mapping, stresses
solving the key technology of AIRSAR application ----- textural
analysis and interpretation.
Textural analysis can be especially powerful as an aid in
topography mapping. For the image based on texture analysis,
the selected texture feature should make some image statistic
values such as deviation change obviously after the image
texture transformation. There are some classic texture feature
description methods such as the deviation texture analysis,
Fourier texture description and grey symbiotic matrix feature
analysis. We propose to the textural analysis techniques and
adapt them to the interpretation of high resolution AIRSAR data.
In order to prove the view effect to the texture analysis result of
different kind of texture feature images, the statistic data of the
AIRSAR images is calculated for the comparison of different
texture results of contrast and some other statistic value
variation, which can make image interpretation casier. The
statistic data such as the grey average, deviation, maximize and
minimize grey value and entropy is calculated in different
texture feature dimension. An interpretation of radar images can
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often permit a fuller comprehension of the morphology of the
landforms and the nature of the materials that form those
landforms when compared with optical datasets. This
interpretation is driven by a relationship between surface
morphology and composition of particular landform units. An
example of AIRSAR image of an area in China and its
interpretation from texture is shown that:
|l. The images provided by SAR appear quite similar to
monochrome aircraft photograph.
2. In addition, SAR can identify objects in a manner
different from that of optical sensors, as light and
microwaves show different behaviors in scattering and
reflection.
3. We confirm the feasibility on the application of high-
resolution AIRSAR in the topography of Surveying and
Mapping through textural analysis and interpretation.
From all, we can find the high resolution imaging radar system
designed not only for experimental purposes but also for
practical use. This contribution will provide further insights
regarding the uses and applications of remote sensing AIRSAR
data for topographic mapping purposes.
2. AIRSAR IMAGES
: SANE THER ER -— TECUT
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