Improvements to urban area characterization using multitemporal and multiangle SAR images

Abstract

We present some improvements to urban area characterization by means of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images using multitemporal and multiangle datasets. The first aim of this research is to show that a temporal sequence of satellite SAR data may improve the classification accuracy and the discriminability of land cover classes in an urban area. Similarly, a second point worth discussing is to what extent multiangle SAR data allows extracting complementary urban features, exploiting different acquisition geometries. To these aims, in this paper, we show results on the same urban test site (Pavia, northern Italy), referring to a sequence of European Remote Sensing Satellite 1/2 (ERS-1/2) C-band images and to a set of simulated X-band data with a finer spatial resolution and different viewing angles. In particular, the multitemporal data is analyzed by means of a novel procedure based on a neuro-fuzzy classifier whose input is a subset of the ERS sequence chosen using the histogram distance index. Instead, the multiangle dataset is used to provide a better characterization of the road network in the area, overcoming effects due to the orientation of the SAR sensor.