MATRIX DIFFERENCE-OPERATORS AS CLASSIFIERS IN POLARIMETRIC RADAR IMAGING

In this paper we outline a new method for processing polarimetric radar signals where emphasis is placed on identifying changes in the polarimetric scattering behaviour of targets. Such a method may be considered a generalisation of scalar difference operators used in image processing. We show that these difference operators arise as eigenvectors of basis matrices used for a parametrization of the transformation of target state. We show how the eight Gell-Mann matrices form a suitable set for the analysis of general radar backscatter problems and describe an algorithm which may be used to extract estimates of the desired parameters from experimental data.