SAR imagery in urban area

Ludovic Basly (1) , François Cauneau (1) , Thierry Ranchin (1) , Lucien Wald (2)

1 CEP - Centre Énergétique et Procédés
2 CEP/Sophia

This paper deals with the major factors influencing the detection of urban fabrics in ERS-SAR images. Data, in SLC and PRI format, were acquired over the city of Nantes (West of France). The analysis of the data was performed in conjunction with aerial photographs, maps, meteorological data, as well as a field survey. The way urban fabrics and its environment, the data processing techniques, and the weather conditions affect the radar signal was examined and discussed. It was found that large effects originate from the geometry of urban features, as well as their orientation relative to the spacecraft orbit. This investigation adds evidence of the fact that the specular scattering prevails over the diffuse scattering in urban area. Practical conclusions concerning the capabilities and the limitations of ERS-SAR imagery are drawn.

Mots clés: urban fabrics; ERS-SAR; Nantes; radar signal; specular scattering; diffuse scattering

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Electromagnétisme; Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Géographie; Planète et Univers [physics]; Sciences de la Terre; Météorologie; Informatique [cs]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Ludovic Basly, François Cauneau, Thierry Ranchin, Lucien Wald. SAR imagery in urban area. EARSeL Symposium 1999 “remote sensing in the 21st Century: economic and environmental applications”, May 1999, Valladolid, Spain. pp.563-568. ⟨hal-00461917⟩