The effect of orientation angle compensation on polarimetric target decompositions

The orientation angle of scattering media affects the polarimetric radar signatures. This paper investigates the effect of orientation compensation on polarimetric target decompositions including Pauli decomposition, Freeman and Durden decomposition and Yamaguchi decomposition. The Cloude and Pottier decomposition is excluded, because entropy, anisotropy and alpha angle are rotational invariant. We will show that after the orientation compensation, the volume scattering power is consistently decreased, while the double bounce power has increased. The surface scattering power is relatively unchanged, and the helicity power is rotational invariant. All these characteristics can be explained by the compensation effect on the nine elements of the coherency matrix. This analysis reveals that, contrary to the general perception, the 4-component component decomposition by Yamaguichi et al. does not use complete information of the coherency matrix. Only six quantities are included - one more than the Freeman/Durden decomposition under the assumption of refection symmetry.