Model-Supported Exploitation Of Sar Imagery

Synthetic Aperture Radar data collection using platforms such as the Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) have created the need for semi-automated and automated context-based exploitation techniques for SAR. This paper describes the building blocks of a system dedicated to site-model-supported exploitation of SAR imagery. The emphasis of this system is on monitoring SAR imagery using wide-area 2D and/or 3D site models along with contextual information. Preliminary designs for the following modules are presented: wide-area site model construction from SAR, 3D site model construction from EO and IFSAR, SAR target detection; SAR target classification and indexing, and SAR-IFSAR-EO image-to-site-model registration. Experimental results on real and synthetic SAR images are provided for most of these modules.