Experimental Study on Detecting Deformed

Man-made Objects Based on

Eigenvalue/eigenvector Analysis
Motoki MASAKA, Yoshio YAMAGUCHI, Hiroyoshi YAMADA Ryoichi SATO
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University Faculty of Education, Niigata University
Niigata, Japan 025–262–7764 Niigata, Japan
Email: masaka@wave.ie.niigata-u.ac.jp

Abstract—In this paper, the results of polarimetric scattering carried out in order to verify the efficacy of the proposed iden-
measurement is presented to verify the efficiency of proposed tification algorithm for damaged (inclined) man-made objects.
man-made object detection algorithm. The polarimetric angular We investigated the polarimetric scattering characteristics,
¯ and 𝛽¯ are known to be effective for identification of well-
indices 𝛼 ¯ for the squint angle variation
regulated structures. However, the validity for detecting deformed especially the feature of 𝛼
¯ and 𝛽,
structures is not clear. So the feature of 𝛼¯ and 𝛽¯ for the squint of deformed man-made objects.
angle variation of deformed man-made objects was investigated
in detail.
II. S IMPLE ALGORITHM FOR MAN - MADE
Index Terms—Eigenvector, eigenvalue, polarimetric scattering OBJECT IDENTIFICATION
measurement, man-made object detection, PolSAR.
To derive effective polarimetric angular indices 𝛼 ¯ we
¯ and 𝛽,
first define the average coherency matrix as
I. I NTRODUCTION
𝑛
1∑
Emergent disaster observation is one of the most important 𝒌𝑃 𝒌𝑃 † ,
⟨[𝑇 ]⟩ = (1)
topics in PolSAR data utilization. For rescuing victims im- 𝑛
mediately after big disaster, it is very important to find out ⎡ ⎤
𝑆𝐻𝐻 + 𝑆𝑉 𝑉
the damaged area, especially around the stricken urban area 1 ⎢ ⎥
𝒌𝑃 = √ ⎣ 𝑆𝐻𝐻 − 𝑆𝑉 𝑉 ⎦ , (2)
(man-made object area). However, the accuracy of existing 2
man-made object identification techniques using PolSAR data 2𝑆𝐻𝑉
is not sufficient in the case where they are obliquely aligned
where 𝒌𝑃 is the Pauli scattering vector, and † denotes complex
to radar illumination direction. The accuracy of identification
conjugate transposition. Then, by using the eigenvalues 𝜆𝑖 (>
becomes worse even when the man-made objects are non-
0) and eigenvectors 𝒆𝑖 , we can transform the matrix ⟨[𝑇 ]⟩ to
damaged or well-regulated for largely oriented case.
a diagonal matrix as
In the previous studies [1]-[3], we have proposed a sim-
ple method for precisely detecting or identifying man-made ⎡ ⎤
𝜆1 0 0
objects when the alignment is not only normal but also
⎢ 0 𝜆2 0 ⎥ †
largely oriented to the radar illumination. In the identification ⟨[𝑇 ]⟩ = [𝒆1 𝒆2 𝒆3 ] ⎣ ⎦ [𝒆1 𝒆2 𝒆3 ] (3)
algorithm, conventional polarimetric angular indices, 𝛼 ¯ and 0 0 𝜆3
¯ are utilized [4], after the polarimetric orientation angle
𝛽, 3
∑
compensation (OAC) [5],[6]. Appropriate thresholds, 𝑇 ℎ1 for = 𝜆𝑖 𝒆 𝑖 𝒆 𝑖 † , (4)
¯ and 𝑇 ℎ2 for 𝛽,
𝛼 ¯ must be determined to realize accurate
𝑖=1
man-made object identification (See Fig. 1). The thresholds ⎡ ⎤
have roughly been determined by considering the result of the cos 𝛼𝑖
⎢ sin 𝛼 cos 𝛽 𝑒𝑗𝛿𝑖 ⎥
FDTD polarimetric scattering analysis for well-regulated man- 𝒆𝑖 = ⎣ 𝑖 𝑖 ⎦ , (𝑖 = 1, 2, 3) (5)
made object model [2],[3]. However, it has not been verified sin 𝛼𝑖 sin 𝛽𝑖 𝑒𝑗𝛾𝑖
whether or not the algorithm with the determined thresholds is
still effective for identification of damaged or inclined man-
where 𝛼𝑖 , 𝛽𝑖 and 𝛿𝑖 , 𝛾𝑖 are the angles and the phases of each
made objects, i.e. applicable for identifying the situation of
eigenvector, respectively.
stricken urban area.
Polarimetric scattering measurement in an anechoic cham-
ber for several types of inclined man-made object models was

978-1-4673-7297-8/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE 688
 The eigenvectors 𝒆𝑖 may be regarded as three independent
scattering mechanisms. The statistical interpretation may need
an average as a sum of the three values of 𝛼𝑖 and 𝛽𝑖 [4].
Therefore, the average angle parameters are described as
𝛼
¯ = 𝑃1 𝛼 1 + 𝑃 2 𝛼 2 + 𝑃 3 𝛼 3 , (6)
𝛽¯ = 𝑃1 𝛽 1 + 𝑃 2 𝛽 2 + 𝑃 3 𝛽 3 , (7)
where the probability 𝑃𝑖 (0 ≤ 𝑃𝑖 ≤ 1) for each scattering
mechanism is defined as
𝜆𝑖
𝑃𝑖 = . (𝑖 = 1, 2, 3) (8)
𝜆1 + 𝜆2 + 𝜆3
In the strong double-bounce scattering region as urban building
area, 𝛼¯ becomes large (close to 90∘ ), and 𝛽¯ tends to be small
¯ and 𝛽¯ can be considered
(close to 0∘ ). So the combination of 𝛼
as useful indices for man-made object detection/identification.
In the previous studies [1]-[3], we have proposed a simple
algorithm for precise man-made object identification using 𝛼 ¯ After multi-look processing to the acquired data, we first carry
and 𝛽,¯ as depicted in Fig. 1. In the algorithm, polarimetric
orientation angle compensation (OAC) [5],[6] is carried out to
⟨[𝑇 ]⟩ as
† and 𝛽¯ obtained by the measurement for the deformed models,
⟨[𝑇 (𝜃)]⟩ = [𝑅 (𝜃)] ⟨[𝑇 ]⟩ [𝑅 (𝜃)] , (9)
⎡ ⎤
1 0 0 at 25∘ , and the squint angle 𝜙 is variable as 0∘ to 45∘ .
⎢ sin 2𝜃 ⎥
[𝑅 (𝜃)] = ⎣ 0 cos 2𝜃 ⎦ (10)
0 − sin 2𝜃 cos 2𝜃
in order to reduce undesired large volume scattering (cross-
polarized) contribution at the first stage. Then, eigen-
value/eigenvector analysis follows. 𝛼 ¯ remains constant,
whereas 𝛽¯ becomes small by OAC procedure where structures
are largely oriented to the radar illumination direction.
For accurate identification of largely oriented objects, appro-
priate thresholds, 𝑇 ℎ1 for 𝛼¯ and 𝑇 ℎ2 for 𝛽¯ (See Fig. 1), must
be required. The thresholds have been roughly determined as
𝑇 ℎ1 = 45∘ and 𝑇 ℎ2 = 35∘ by considering the results of
the FDTD polarimetric analysis for a non-damaged and well-
regulated man-made object model [3]. It has been found from
the image analysis using fully polarimetric ALOS/PALSAR
data that these thresholds are valid for largely oriented and
well-regulated urban area [3].
In order to evaluate whether or not the algorithm with the
thresholds is effective for damaged (inclined) man-made object
identification, we carried out polarimetric scattering measure-
ment in an anechoic chamber for several types of inclined
man-made object models, and investigated the polarimetric
scattering characteristics, especially examine the feature of 𝛼 ¯
and 𝛽¯ for the squint angle variation.
2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR)
III. P OLARIMETRIC SCATTERING MEASUREMENT
Fully polarimetric scattering SAR measurement is carried
out by utilizing a vector network analyzer with 4-port ca-
pability. The experimental situation is depicted in Fig. 2.
Figure 3 shows the simple deformed man-made object models.
Each model is composed of four deformed buildings on a
flat ground plane, i.e. four deformed (inclined) rectangular
parallelepipeds on a flat plate, where the inclined angle is
set as 15∘ . We considered four types of the deformed mod-
els as (a) forward-deformed, (b) backward-deformed, (c) left-
deformed and (d) right-deformed cases (Fig. 3). To reduce
the weight of the scatterers for realizing easy experimental
setting, the parallelepiped part is made of styrene foam cov-
ered by aluminum tape, and the ground part is thin square
aluminum plate. The geometrical parameters of the models
are set as Wb = Lb = 30𝜆 (60 cm), Hb = 22.5𝜆 (45 cm),
Wg = Lg = 91.5𝜆 (183 cm), respectively, at the Ku-band (15
GHz). Other measurement parameters are shown in Table I.
out the OAC of Eq. (9) to the coherency matrix ⟨[𝑇 ]⟩, and then
execute the eigenvalue/eigenvector analysis.
Figures 4 and 5 show the squint angle dependencies of 𝛼 ¯
respectively. In the figures, the results of the well-regulated
model are also compared. Here, the incident angle 𝜃 is fixed
In Figs. 4 (a),(b) and Figs. 5 (a),(b), the squint angular de-
pendency of the indices, especially of 𝛼 ¯ , is different from that
for the well-regulated one. This is due to the fact that the
strong double-bounce scattering between the sidewall of the
object and the ground is hardly observed. Also, instead of the
double-bounce scattering, the surface scattering contribution
becomes dominant for such deformed cases. On the other
hand, in Figs. 4 (c),(d) and Figs. 5 (c),(d), one can see that the
behavior of 𝛼 ¯ and 𝛽¯ for the left- and right- deformed models
is very similar to that for the well-regulated one. It is found
from this result that the identification algorithm of Fig. 1 with
𝑇 ℎ1 = 45∘ and 𝑇 ℎ2 = 35∘ may work well even for such
deformed cases in the wide squint angular range (up to 35∘ ).
IV. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, the feature of 𝛼 ¯ and 𝛽¯ was investigated
experimentally to evaluate the detection algorithm for dam-
aged (deformed) structures. It was found that the identification
algorithm work may not work well for the forward- and
backward-deformed structures due to increase of the surface
scattering (or decrease of the double-bounce scattering). On
the other hand, the algorithm works well for the left- and
right-deformed structures. Such deformed structures generate
strong double-bounce scattering, and are easily identified in
the same way as non-damaged (well-regulated) buildings.
689
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT TABLE I
M EASUREMENT PARAMETERS .
The authors express their sincere appreciations to JAXA,
Japan, for providing valuable ALOS2/PALSAR2, and Pi-SAR- Center frequency 15 GHz (Ku-band)
Band width 4.0 GHz
L2 data sets. This research was partially supported by a Number of frequency points 401
Scientific Research Grant-In-Aid (25350495, 26420383) from Synthetic aperture length 2.6 m
JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), Japan. Scan interval 8 mm
Incident angle 𝜃 25∘
Squint angle 𝜙 0∘ ∼ 45∘ (5∘ int.)
R EFERENCES

[1] Y. Ikarashi, R. Sato, M. Masaka, Y. Yamaguchi, and H. Yamada,

“Porlarimetric scattering analysis for detectiong largely oriented man-
made objects”, Tech. report of IEE Japan, EMT-14-170, pp.15-20, Nov.
2014 (in Japanese).
[2] R. Sato, Y. Ikarashi, M. Masaka, Y. Yamaguchi, and H. Yamada, “FDTD
porlarimetric scattering analysis for a largely-oriented simple man-made
structure model,” Tech. report of IEE Japan, EMT-15-019, pp.97-100,
Jan. 2015 (in Japanese).
[3] R. Sato, Y. Ikarashi, M. Masaka, Y. Yamaguchi, and H. Yamada,
“Polarimetric scattering analysis for detecting largely-oriented man-
made objects based on eigenvalues/eigenvectors analysis to the rotated
coherency matrix,” to be presented in IGARSS 2015.
[4] S. R. Cloude, “Polarization: Applications in remote sensing”, Oxford
Univ. Press, 2009.
[5] J. S. Lee, D. L. Schuler, T. L, Ainsworth, E. Krogager, D. Kasilingam,
and W.-M. Boerner, “On the estimation of polarimetric orientation shifts
induced by terrain slopes,” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing vol.40, (a) Forward-deformed
no.1, pp.30-41, Jan. 2002.
[6] Y. Yamaguchi, A. Sato, W.-M. Boerner, R. Sato, and H. Yamada, “Four-
component scattering power decomposition with rotation of coherency
matrix”, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 2251-
2258, June 2011.

calculation offf [T ] Th1< α < 90㼻

no (b) Backward-deformed
yes
other targets
[T (θ )] obtained by the OAC
no 0㼻< β < Th2
α and β derived by yes
eigenvalue/eigenvector analysis other targets
man-made objects

Fig. 1. Proposed algorithm for detecting man-made objects.

(c) Left-deformed

(d) Right-deformed

Fig. 2. Photo of the experimental situation. Fig. 3. Geometry of the problem.

690 2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR)

 (a) Forward-deformed (a) Forward-deformed

(b) Backward-deformed (b) Backward-deformed

(c) Left-deformed (c) Left-deformed

(d) Right-deformed (d) Right-deformed

Fig. 4. 𝛼
¯ obtained from the measurement of the deformed models Fig. 5. 𝛽¯ obtained from the measurement of the deformed models

2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR) 691