IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,747,468
Granted Patent B2
US 11,747,468 · App. 17/030,529 · Granted Sep 5, 2023

System using a priori terrain height data for interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) phase disambiguation and related methods

Inventors: Joseph Hucks (Grant, FL); William W. Watkins (Melbourne Beach, FL); Donald A. Lieb (Melbourne, FL); Emile Ganthier (Palm Bay, FL); Glenn Boudreaux (Melbourne, FL); Mark D. Rahmes (Melbourne, FL)
Assignee: EAGLE TECHNOLOGY, LLC
G01S13/9023G01V3/12G01V3/38G06T1/20G06T1/60G06T3/20G06T7/11G06T7/593G06T17/05
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,747,468
App. No.
17/030,529
Filed
Sep 24, 2020
Granted
Sep 5, 2023
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2616
USPC
703/6
Abstract

A system may include a memory and a processor cooperating therewith to obtain geospatially registered first and second interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) images of a geographic area having respective first and second actual grazing angles with a difference therebetween, and convert the first IFSAR image to a modified first IFSAR image having a modified first grazing angle based upon known terrain elevation data for the geographic area. The modified first grazing angle may be closer to the second actual grazing angle than the first actual grazing angle. The processor may further recover updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

Claims (36)

1. A system comprising:

a memory and a processor cooperating therewith to

obtain geospatially registered first and second interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) images of a geographic area having respective first and second actual grazing angles with a difference therebetween,

convert the first IFSAR image to a modified first IFSAR image having a modified first grazing angle based upon known terrain elevation data for the geographic area, the modified first grazing angle being closer to the second actual grazing angle than the first actual grazing angle, and

recover updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to convert the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image when the first grazing angle is greater than an angular threshold from the second grazing angle.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the known terrain elevation data comprises an estimated height map for the geographic area.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the processor is configured to generate the estimated height map based upon a model trained using electro-optic (EO) imagery and a semantic label database including a plurality of labeled predicted EO image classified objects having respective elevation values associated therewith.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to recover the updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon phase unwrapping of the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to perform deconvolution of the first IFSAR image prior to converting the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image.

7. A system comprising:

a memory and a processor cooperating therewith to

obtain geospatially registered first and second interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) images of a geographic area having respective first and second actual grazing angles with a difference therebetween,

convert the first IFSAR image to a modified first IFSAR image having a modified first grazing angle based upon an estimated height map for the geographic area when the first grazing angle is greater than an angular threshold from the second grazing angle, the modified first grazing angle being closer to the second actual grazing angle than the first actual grazing angle, and

recover updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor is configured to generate the estimated height map based upon a model trained using electro-optic (EO) imagery and a semantic label database including a plurality of labeled predicted EO image classified objects having respective elevation values associated therewith.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor is configured to recover the updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon phase unwrapping of the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor is further configured to perform deconvolution of the first IFSAR image prior to converting the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image.

11. A method comprising:

obtaining and storing in a memory geospatially registered first and second interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) images of a geographic area having respective first and second actual grazing angles with a difference therebetween;

converting, using a processor, the first IFSAR image to a modified first IFSAR image having a modified first grazing angle based upon known terrain elevation data for the geographic area, the modified first grazing angle being closer to the second actual grazing angle than the first actual grazing angle, and

recovering, using the processor, updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein converting comprises converting the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image when the first grazing angle is greater than an angular threshold from the second grazing angle.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the known terrain elevation data comprises an estimated height map for the geographic area.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising generating the estimated height map using the processor based upon a model trained using electro-optic (EO) imagery and a semantic label database including a plurality of labeled predicted EO image classified objects having respective elevation values associated therewith.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein recovering comprises recovering the updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon phase unwrapping of the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising performing deconvolution of the first IFSAR image using the processor prior to converting the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a processor to perform steps comprising:

obtaining geospatially registered first and second interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) images of a geographic area having respective first and second actual grazing angles with a difference therebetween;

converting the first IFSAR image to a modified first IFSAR image having a modified first grazing angle based upon known terrain elevation data for the geographic area, the modified first grazing angle being closer to the second actual grazing angle than the first actual grazing angle; and

recovering updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein converting comprises converting the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image when the first grazing angle is greater than an angular threshold from the second grazing angle.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the known terrain elevation data comprises an estimated height map for the geographic area.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 further having computer-executable instructions for causing the processor to perform a step of generating the estimated height map based upon a model trained using electro-optic (EO) imagery and a semantic label database including a plurality of labeled predicted EO image classified objects having respective elevation values associated therewith.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein recovering comprises recovering the updated terrain elevation data for the geographic area based upon phase unwrapping of the modified first IFSAR image and the second IFSAR image.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 further having computer-executable instructions for causing the processor to perform deconvolution of the first IFSAR image prior to converting the first IFSAR image to the modified first IFSAR image.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 26, 2020
From: HUCKS, JOSEPH; WATKINS, WILLIAM W.; LIEB, DONALD A.; GANTHIER, EMILE; BOUDREAUX, GLENN; RAHMES, MARK D.
To: EAGLE TECHNOLOGY, LLC
Reel/Frame 054163/0830 →
Continuity (1)
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