Edge detection and extraction for SAR images

Edge information is useful for various remote sensing applications: classification, relief reconstruction, image analysis. A lot of methods have been proposed to process edge extraction, with respect to the hypothesis of additive noise. All these methods are usually based on differential operators followed by a non local-maxima suppression or a zero-crossing search. In SAR imagery, presence of speckle noise makes derivative methods not applicable because of non-constant false alarm results. Usually, ratio operators are used for SAR image processing. In this paper, we propose a new edge detector based on a ratio. This operator has the particularity to deliver signed results. Then we apply two edge extraction methods: the first one based on a non local-maxima suppression, and the second on a non zero-crossing suppression.