Identification of statistically homogeneous pixels based on one-sample test

Abstract

Statistically homogeneous pixels (SHP) play a crucial role in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) analysis. In past studies, various two-sample tests were applied on multitemporal SAR data stacks under the assumption of having stationary backscattering properties over time. In this letter, we propose the Robust T-test (TR) to improve the effectiveness of test operation. The TR test reduces the impact of temporal variabilities and outliers, thus helping to identify SHP with assurances of similar temporal behaviors. This method includes three steps: (1) signal suppression; (2) outlier removal; and (3) one-sample test. In the experiments, we apply the TR test on both simulated and real data. Different stack sizes, types of distributions, and hypothesis tests are compared. Results of both experiments signify that the TR test outperforms conventional approaches and provides reliable SHP for SAR image analysis.