Physical Models for Polarimetric SAR Analysis

Polarimetric signatures can be used to support target identification in the context of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). In this paper, we derive analytic expressions for the polarimetric signatures in the SAR image domain, for a class of localized scatters that may be found in a composite target. Specifically, we consider a convex surface, curved and straight edges, and a dihedral. For each of these subscatterers, we use asymptotic techniques to construct analytic expressions for the polarimetric images as a function of the target's geometry and orientation relative to the SAR scan, then extract Huynen's polarimetric parameters, and finally discuss the subscatterer identification in the composite image domain.