IP Library Granted Patent US 10,705,205
Granted Patent B2
US 10,705,205 · App. 16/012,791 · Granted Jul 7, 2020

Ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar-based atmospheric phase compensation method

Inventors: Qun Wan (Chengdu, CN); Yue Yang (Chengdu, CN); Zhenzhu Zha (Chengdu, CN); Jihao Yin (Chengdu, CN); Lin Zou (Chengdu, CN); Jie Zhuang (Chengdu, CN); Xinyu Chen (Chengdu, CN)
Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA
G01S13/9023G01S7/354G01S13/9011G01S2007/356
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,705,205
App. No.
16/012,791
Granted
Jul 7, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of synthetic aperture radar, and in particular to a ground-based interference synthetic aperture radar-based atmospheric phase compensation method. The present invention first uses the inverse fast Fourier transform algorithm to rapidly and effectively realize the focusing in the range and cross-range dimension. Then a triple threshold method which combines coherence coefficient, amplitude, and amplitude dispersion index is used to select reliable PS points. Finally, under a full consideration of the spatial correlation of the atmospheric phase, the atmospheric phase is estimated by using a two-dimensional-polynomial model. The present invention can rapidly and accurately estimate and compensate the atmospheric phase, is helpful in improving the accuracy of GB-InSAR real-time measurement, and valuable and universal in practical application.

Claims (370)

1. A ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (GB-InSAR)-based atmospheric phase compensation method, comprising:

a. imaging processing: setting as using a step frequency continuous wave (SFCW) technique, transforming a range compression from a frequency domain to a spatial domain by an inverse fast Fourier transform, regarding a sampling of different observation points in ground-based synthetic aperture radar (GB-SAR) along a linear rail as a frequency domain sampling with a linear frequency shift, performing cross-range focusing by the inverse fast Fourier transform as well, and adding windows to an image after focusing to obtain a final two-dimensional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image;

b. image registration: firstly, matching the final two-dimensional SAR images obtained by continuous observations; sequentially, finding out a transformation from a slave image S geometry to a master image M geometry; finally, resampling a slave image S to a master image M geometry, wherein step b specifically comprises:

b1. image matching: selecting a series of pixel points (x,y) from the master image M, and estimating a shift k xy =(k x ,k y ) of the image in a range direction and a cross-range direction according to a cross-correlation function C(k xy ) of a square of amplitude values of the master image and the slave image, wherein the cross-correlation function C(k xy ) is expressed as follows:

C

(

k

xy

)

=

i

,

j

H

xy

[

M

(

i

,

j

)

-

μ

M

]

[

S

(

i

-

k

x

,

j

-

k

y

)

-

μ

S

]

σ

M

σ

S

(

formula

1

)

in formula 1, H xy represents a window function, μ M , μ S , σ M , σ S represent mean values and variances of images in the window, respectively; the maximum value of the cross-correlation function C(k xy ) is used to represent the shift k xy =(k x ,k y ) between the master image and the slave image;

b2. transformation estimation: estimating transformation parameters p x (x,y),p y (x,y) between the master image and the slave image by the following two-dimensional-polynomial:

{

p

x

(

x

,

y

)

=

a

x

+

b

x

x

+

c

x

y

+

d

x

x

2

+

e

x

xy

+

f

x

y

2

p

y

(

x

,

y

)

=

a

y

+

b

y

x

+

c

y

y

+

d

y

x

2

+

e

y

xy

+

f

y

y

2

(

formula

2

)

wherein a x , b x , c x , d x , e x , f x and a y , b y , c y , d y , e y , f y are estimated by the least squares method, and an observation model is expressed as follows:

{

x

S

=

x

M

+

p

x

(

x

,

y

)

+

ξ

x

y

S

=

y

M

+

p

y

(

x

,

y

)

+

ξ

y

(

formula

3

)

in formula 3, (x S ,y S ) is a coordinate on the slave image corresponding to the point (x M ,y M ) on the master image, and (ξ x ,ξ y ) is a residual observation error; a representation of the shift (k x ,k y ) obtained is expressed as follows:

{

k

x

=

p

x

(

x

,

y

)

+

ξ

x

k

y

=

p

y

(

x

,

y

)

+

ξ

y

(

formula

4

)

b3. image resampling: using a truncated Sinc as an interpolation signal, transforming the slave image to the master image, namely, each pixel point of the master image and the slave image matches a same portion of a terrain of a measured area;

c. interferometric phase filtering and phase unwrapping: performing a differential interference processing on the master image and the slave image registered in step b to obtain an interference image; for the GB-SAR system, an interference phase of an α th pixel point in an interference image is expressed as follows:

Δψ a =Δψ def,a +Δψ atm,a +Δψ noise,a +2 nπ   (formula 5)

wherein in formula 5, Δψ def,a represents a phase caused by a deformation of target in two observations, Δψ atm,a represents a phase difference caused by atmospheric factors in the two observations, and Δψ noise,a represents a phase difference caused by thermal noise factors;

a minimum cost flow algorithm is used for phase unwrapping, and a periodic mean filtering method is used to filter out an interference of noise before the phase unwrapping;

d. permanent scatterer (PS) point selection: grouping SAR images, wherein every F SAR images are set as a group and F denotes the number of SAR images; firstly, the PS candidate selection is performed by using amplitude and amplitude dispersion information of each group; secondly, a secondary screening is performed by using correlation coefficient information of all PS candidates and selecting out a final PS point set step d further comprises:

d1. PS candidate selection: selecting PS candidates by using an amplitude and an amplitude dispersion index;

d11. selecting the PS candidates by using amplitude dispersion information, wherein a calculation formula of an amplitude dispersion is as follows:

Υ

amp

=

σ

amp

m

amp

(

formula

6

)

In formula 6, σ amp represents amplitude standard deviation of pixel point in F images, and m amp represents amplitude average of the pixel point in F images; in a process of an amplitude dispersion selection, an amplitude dispersion threshold ρ adi is set firstly, then pixel points having the amplitude dispersion less than the threshold ρ adi are selected as the PS candidates;

d12. further selecting the PS candidates by using the amplitude information, wherein an amplitude selection method is expressed by a mathematical formula as follows:

{

β

β

thr

,

PS

candidate

β

<

β

thr

,

reject

point

(

formula

7

)

in formula 7, β is average amplitude information of the PS candidates selected according to the amplitude dispersion information in F images participating in the selection, and β thr is an amplitude threshold;

d2. secondary screening: selecting a final PS point set by using coherence coefficient information of all PS candidates, and a mathematical expression of the coherence coefficient is as follows:

γ

=

ξ

ζ

M

·

S

*

ξ

ζ

M

2

ξ

ζ

S

2

(

formula

8

)

in formula 8, |·| and (·)* respectively represent modulus operation and conjugate operation, and ξ×ζ denotes a size of a two-dimensional window function; pixel points having the coherence coefficient less than a threshold ρ coh are removed by setting the coherence coefficient threshold ρ coh , and the remaining PS candidates are final selection results of PS points;

e. atmospheric phase compensation: estimating the atmospheric phase by using a two-dimensional-polynomial model based on the PS points selected in step d, and establishing a two-dimensional-polynomial model with a degree transformation of r:

Δψ

atm

(

p

,

q

)

=

b

00

+

t

=

0

r

b

t

,

(

r

-

t

)

·

(

p

-

p

ref

)

t

·

(

q

-

q

ref

)

r

-

t

(

formula

9

)

wherein in formula 9, represents an atmospheric phase, (p,q) represents a coordinate of a pixel point, (p ref ,q ref ) represents a coordinate of a reference pixel point, and b t,(r-t) represents a polynomial model parameter; an atmospheric phase screen (APS) model parameter is estimated based on the PS points selected, a deformation phase of the PS point selected is set as zero, so the following equation can be obtained:

Δψ( p,q )=Δψ atm ( p,q )+Δψ noise ( p,q )

an estimated model parameter {circumflex over (b)} t,(r-t) is estimated by a least squares method, then the atmospheric phase of a deformation area is calculated by using the estimated model parameter {circumflex over (b)} t,(r-t) ; after the atmospheric phase compensation, a true phase value caused by deformation is obtained, so that a deformation of a monitoring area is calculated.

2. The GB-InSAR-based atmospheric phase compensation method according to claim 1 , wherein in step d11, the PS candidates are selected by using the amplitude dispersion information, the amplitude dispersion threshold ρ adi is set as 0.1.

3. The GB-InSAR-based atmospheric phase compensation method according to claim 1 , wherein in step d2, the coherence coefficient threshold ρ coh is set as 0.9 during the secondary screening.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 20, 2018
From: WAN, QUN; YANG, YUE; ZHA, ZHENZHU; YIN, JIHAO; ZOU, LIN; ZHUANG, JIE; CHEN, XINYU
To: UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA
Reel/Frame 046152/0224 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 2018 1 0462268 · May 15, 2018 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20190353779A1 · Nov 21, 2019
Cited By (1)
US 12,189,022