INTENSITY AND PHASE STATISTICS OF MULTILOOK POLARIMETRIC AND INTERFEROMETRIC SAR IMAGERY

Polarimetric and interferometric SAR data are frequently multilook pro cessed for speckle reduction and data compression. The statistical cha racteristics of multilook data are quite different from those of singl e-look data. In this paper, we investigate the statistics of their int ensity and phase. Probability density function (PDF's) of the multiloo k phase difference, magnitude of complex product, and intensity and am plitude ratios between two components of the scattering matrix are der ived, and expressed in closed forms. The PDF's depend on the complex c orrelation coefficient and the number of looks. Comparisons of these t heoretically derived PDF's are made to measurements from NASA/JPL AIRS AR data. The results of this paper can be applied to feature classific ation using polarimetric SAR and to the estimation of decorrelation ef fects of the interferometric SAR.