Polarimetric SAR Signature Detection Using the Cameron Decomposition

An approach to the detection of specific polarimetric SAR signatures is presented. The polarimetric response in a resolution cell can be viewed as a sample of the electromagnetic scattering matrix for that resolution cell. Through the use of multiple coherent apertures, multiple samples of the scattering matrix can be obtained. With the use of a suitable decomposition and a weighted log-likelihood formulation, it is possible to estimate the relative likelihoods that the observed scattering matrix responses match known electromagnetic signatures.