Coherent change detection with SAR

In the context of investigating coherent SAR data for battle damage assessment, we examine the ability to detect changes in objects using synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) observations. The emphasis is on targets which are a few resolution cells in extent. Both coherent and non-coherent methods are studied. Coherent methods are effective when clutter coherence is high. The correlation between intensity images may also be used to detect changes. Practical performance limits are set by sources of phase noise, such as the temporal coherence of clutter, and the spatial resolution of the sensor compared with the target/change dimensions.