Toward edge sharpening: a SAR speckle filtering algorithm

This paper makes two contributions. It first introduces an algorithm for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) speckle reduction and edge sharpening. Existing speckle filtering algorithms can effectively reduce the speckle effect but unfortunately also, to some degree, smear edges and blur images. Even for unfiltered images, there is still a need for edge sharpening; since SAR sensors have limited bandwidths, leading to slow responses to sudden changes (smearing sharp edges). The proposed algorithm functions as an adaptive-mean filter. Edge crossing points are detected by using the second-order derivative of the Gaussian function as a wavelet transform function. A proper dilation scale factor enables the wavelet transform function to detect only edge crossings and ignore the local oscillations. Then in a moving window the mean filter is applied if there is no edge crossing point. Otherwise, averaging is only applied to the part of the window separated by edge crossing points. Consequently, the algorithm smooths uniform areas while it sharpens and enhances edges. Edges of the filtered images are generally sharper than the original. Similarities between the proposed filter and other popular speckle filters, such as the Lee, Kuan, and Frost filters, designated for SAR multiplicative noise, are analyzed. Another contribution of the paper is the evaluation of popular filters from the viewpoint of texture preservation. The evaluation is carried out using the first and second-order histograms. Possible distortions caused by filters are explained.