MATRIX DIFFERENCE-OPERATORS AS CLASSIFIER S IN POLARIMETRIC RADAR IMAGING

In this paper we outline a new method for processing polarimetric rada r signals where emphasis is placed on identifying changes in the polar imetric scattering behaviour of targets. Such a method may be consider ed a generalisation of scalar difference operators used in image proce ssing. We show that these difference operators arise as eigenvectors o f basis matrices used for a parametrization of the transformation of t arget state. We show how the eight Gell-Mann matrices form a suitable set for the analysis of general radar backscatter problems and describ e an algorithm which may be used to extract estimates of the desired p arameters from experimental data.