Adaptive model-based classification of PolSAR data

Abstract

An adaptive classification is developed as a hybrid of the eigenvector-based and the model-based target decompositions for polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data. The classification adopts the canonical scattering models that widely used in model-based decompositions to provide an improvement for the well-known H/α classification. First, a correspondence principle is adopted to adaptively identify the matched canonical models. The selected models are parallelly combined based on the scattering similarity for a fine depiction of the scattering mechanism then. Twelve classes are finally obtained, and each one carries a unique symbol to show a specific scattering. The classification does not depend on a particular data set, avoids the hard partitioning, and solves the obscures in H/α. Comparison on the real PolSAR data sets with H/α and the existing scattering similarity-based classification validates the better discrimination.