A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2
GaoFen-3 (GF-3) is the first Chinese civilian multi-polarization synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, launched on 10 August of 2016, and put into operation at the end of January 2017. The polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) system of GF-3 is able to provide quad-polarization (quad-pol) images in a variet...
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MDPI AG
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/7/1493 |
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| author | Zezhong Wang Jian Jiao Qiming Zeng Junyi Liu |
| author_facet | Zezhong Wang Jian Jiao Qiming Zeng Junyi Liu |
| author_sort | Zezhong Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | GaoFen-3 (GF-3) is the first Chinese civilian multi-polarization synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, launched on 10 August of 2016, and put into operation at the end of January 2017. The polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) system of GF-3 is able to provide quad-polarization (quad-pol) images in a variety of geophysical research and applications. However, this ability increases the complexity of maintaining image quality and calibration. As a result, to evaluate the quality of polarimetric data, polarimetric signatures are necessary to guarantee accuracy. Compared with some other operational space-borne PolSAR systems, such as ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 (ALOS-2) and RADARSAT-2, GF-3 has less reported calibration and image quality files, forcing users to validate the quality of polarimetric imagery of GF-3 before quantitative applications. In this study, without the validation data obtained from a calibration infrastructure, an innovative, three-hierarchy strategy was proposed to assess PolSAR data quality, in which the performance of GF-3 data was evaluated with ALOS-2 and RADARSAT-2 data as references. Experimental results suggested that: (1) PolSAR data of GF-3 satisfied backscatter reciprocity, similar with that of RADARSAT-2; (2) most of the GF-3 PolSAR images had no signs of polarimetric distortion affecting decomposition, and the system of GF-3 may have been improved around May 2017; and (3) the classification accuracy of GF-3 varied from 75.0% to 91.4% because of changing image-acquiring situations. In conclusion, the proposed three-hierarchy approach has the ability to evaluate polarimetric performance. It proved that the residual polarimetric distortion of calibrated GF-3 PolSAR data remained at an insignificant level, with reference to that of ALOS-2 and RADARSAT-2, and imposed no significant impact on the polarimetric decomposition components and classification accuracy. |
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| spelling | doaj.art-b09f62b219d74953a05bc766d0d4ecd22022-12-22T03:09:52ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202019-03-01197149310.3390/s19071493s19071493A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2Zezhong Wang0Jian Jiao1Qiming Zeng2Junyi Liu3Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, School of Earth and Space Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaInstitute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, School of Earth and Space Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaInstitute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, School of Earth and Space Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, ChinaGaoFen-3 (GF-3) is the first Chinese civilian multi-polarization synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, launched on 10 August of 2016, and put into operation at the end of January 2017. The polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) system of GF-3 is able to provide quad-polarization (quad-pol) images in a variety of geophysical research and applications. However, this ability increases the complexity of maintaining image quality and calibration. As a result, to evaluate the quality of polarimetric data, polarimetric signatures are necessary to guarantee accuracy. Compared with some other operational space-borne PolSAR systems, such as ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 (ALOS-2) and RADARSAT-2, GF-3 has less reported calibration and image quality files, forcing users to validate the quality of polarimetric imagery of GF-3 before quantitative applications. In this study, without the validation data obtained from a calibration infrastructure, an innovative, three-hierarchy strategy was proposed to assess PolSAR data quality, in which the performance of GF-3 data was evaluated with ALOS-2 and RADARSAT-2 data as references. Experimental results suggested that: (1) PolSAR data of GF-3 satisfied backscatter reciprocity, similar with that of RADARSAT-2; (2) most of the GF-3 PolSAR images had no signs of polarimetric distortion affecting decomposition, and the system of GF-3 may have been improved around May 2017; and (3) the classification accuracy of GF-3 varied from 75.0% to 91.4% because of changing image-acquiring situations. In conclusion, the proposed three-hierarchy approach has the ability to evaluate polarimetric performance. It proved that the residual polarimetric distortion of calibrated GF-3 PolSAR data remained at an insignificant level, with reference to that of ALOS-2 and RADARSAT-2, and imposed no significant impact on the polarimetric decomposition components and classification accuracy.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/7/1493GaoFen-3 (GF-3)polarimetric SAR (PolSAR)image qualityevaluationcalibration |
| spellingShingle | Zezhong Wang Jian Jiao Qiming Zeng Junyi Liu A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2 Sensors GaoFen-3 (GF-3) polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) image quality evaluation calibration |
| title | A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2 |
| title_full | A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2 |
| title_fullStr | A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2 |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2 |
| title_short | A Three-Hierarchy Evaluation of Polarimetric Performance of GF-3, Compared with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 and RADARSAT-2 |
| title_sort | three hierarchy evaluation of polarimetric performance of gf 3 compared with alos 2 palsar 2 and radarsat 2 |
| topic | GaoFen-3 (GF-3) polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) image quality evaluation calibration |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/7/1493 |
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