Detection of Coherent Scatterers in SAR Data: Application for Urban Environments

Potentials and limitations of using coherent scatterers (CSs) to monitor urban subsidences by means of differential SAR interferometry (D-InSAR) techniques are investigated in this paper. Recently, a new CS detector based on the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRTA) has been proposed, and a complete performance analysis together with an extensive experimentation on real data have already been presented, showing its good behavior. Thus, CSs revealed by means of this detector are chosen as reference points for the generation of deformation maps in the framework of an experimental D-InSAR processor developed at the Microwaves and Radar Institute (HR) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The obtained results are compared with the ones achieved by using permanent scatterers (PSs). Finally, some conclusions about the choice of CSs in D-InSAR applications are given.