Physics-Based Predictions for Coherent Change Detection Using X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar

A theoretical model is developed to describe the interferometric coherency between pairs of SAR images of rough soil surfaces. The model is derived using a dyadic form for surface reflectivity in the Kirchhoff approximation. This permits the combination of Kirchhoff theory and spotlight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image formation theory. The resulting model is used to describe the interferometric coherency between pairs of SAR images of rough soil surfaces. The theoretical model is applied to SAR images formed before and after surface changes observed by a repeat-pass SAR system. The change in surface associated with a tyre track following vehicle passage is modelled and SAR coherency estimates are obtained. Predicted coherency distributions for both the change and no-change scenarios are used to estimate receiver operator curves for the detection of the changes using a high-resolution, X-band SAR system.