Despeckling SAR images in the undecimated wavelet domain: a MAP approach

A method to despeckle SAR images based on a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation strategy in the undecimated wavelet domain is proposed. The method uses the assumption that the wavelet coefficient probability density functions (PDFs) are generalized Gaussians. The parameters of such distributions are computed by using the moments and the cumulants of the PDFs of the processes that constitute the SAR image, i.e., radar reflectivity and speckle noise. Experimental results demonstrate that the theory of MAP filtering can be successfully applied to SAR images represented in the shift-invariant wavelet domain.