SAR interferometry: a Markovian approach to phase unwrapping with a discontinuity model

Proposes a new global method for phase unwrapping by formulating the problem as a consistent labeling problem with a cost function based on the membrane model. To take the existence of discontinuities in the interferogram into account, the authors propose to use the φ-function theory by replacing the quadratic form of the membrane model by a non-convex form which allows two neighbouring points to have a phase difference greater than 2π. They solve this optimization problem by first a deterministic algorithm and then a simulated annealing process