Phase Quality Optimization Techniques and Limitations in Polarimetric Differential SAR Interferometry

In this paper, the application of polarimetric optimization techniques for Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) applications is studied. The objective of the proposed techniques is to increase the number of temporal coherent scatterers, improving thus the robustness of the DInSAR algorithms exploiting the polarimetric capabilities of data. The relationship between optimum coherences or amplitude dispersion maps, depending on the pixels selection method used, and the final DInSAR results is analyzed, using both orbital and Ground-Based SAR fully-polarimetric data. Moreover, the main advantages and drawbacks of each optimization method will be analyzed, especially when polarimetric stability does not apply. With the optimization techniques presented up to a twofold increase of the pixel candidates in the coherence case and up to a factor of seven in the amplitude dispersion case may be reached.