Qiaoping Zhang

3D topography and forest recovery from an L-BAND single-pass airborne PolInSAR system

Polarimetric InSAR (PolInSAR) using repeat-pass L-Band has generated interest in recent years because of its potential for extraction of forest height and of bare-earth topography beneath the canopy. However temporal de-correlation remains a problem. In previous papers a single-pass system has been demonstrated which removes the temporal issue. In this paper we extend the single-pass PolInSAR work previously described and show results for forests in which tree height maps and corresponding DTMs have been generated and compared to lidar truth.

Forest height estimation using single-pass dual-baseline L-Band PolInSAR data

Two SAR tomographic estimators, namely the Capon method and the MUSIC method, are combined for the purposes of tree top height estimation and ground elevation retrieval from the dual-baseline datasets acquired by an experimental single-pass fully polarimetric L-Band InSAR system. Over two test sites, the preliminary results demonstrate a better estimation performance than our previously published results [4,5] using established single-baseline PolInSAR retrieval approaches.

Early Results using Single-Pass L-band Pol-InSAR

The extraction of bio-and geophysical parameters by means of Pol-InSAR has gained a lot of interest in recent years. In particular, the exploitation of full quad-pol mode long wave-length (L-and P-band) data in combination with advanced theoretical models like the Random-Volume-over-Ground (RVoG) model has successfully been used to derive quantities like ground topography or tree height with impressive accuracy. However, to date all experiments (airborne and spaceborne) have been conducted in repeat-pass interferometry mode and thus, results have been suffering from two major limitations: temporal decorrelation and, in the airborne case, uncompensated motion errors. Both error sources can significantly reduce the usability of the acquired data, which is of importance especially if operationalmapping of large areas is being considered. This paper reports about first experiments with a single-pass airborne L-band quad-pol interferometer that has been implemented on Intermaps TopoSAR platform.

Accurate focusing of single-pass airborne InSAR data at L-band

Long wavelength airborne single-pass InSAR systems call for very accurate SAR focusing and motion compensation algorithms. We have analyzed 3 different techniques and evaluated their performance using real data acquired with an L-band single-pass interferometer in Canada. Time domain backprojection with terrain-dependent motion compensation shows the best performance with results close to the theoretically expected values.

Forest height estimation using single-pass polarimetric SAR tomography at L-Band

This paper addresses the estimation of forest heights and its underlying ground topography by applying dual-baseline SAR tomographic techniques to single-pass L-Band PolInSAR data. In this paper the feasibiliy of this special single-pass tomographic configuration is demontrated over boreal forests at the test site of Edson inAlberta, Canada. The estimated ground topography and tree top heights are validated against LiDAR data.

Tomographic analysis for boreal forests using single-pass L-band PolInSAR data

This paper addresses the estimation of forest heights and its underlying ground topography by applying dual-baseline SAR tomographic techniques to single-pass L-Band PolInSAR data. In this paper the feasibility of this special single-pass tomographic configuration is demontrated over boreal forests at the test site of Edson in Alberta, Canada. The estimated ground topography and tree top heights are validated against LiDAR data.