Change Detection for High-Resolution Drone-Borne SAR at High Frequencies - First Results

This paper presents initial results of SAR imaging and change detection for a high-resolution (6x30cm), short-range drone-borne radar system. A novel hybrid approach to change detection is developed using the main SAR system parameters of altitude, look angle, and range to the scene center. These are used to determine the derived change detection sensitivity and to identify and quantify image decorrelation, a basic measure of change detection performance. An overview of the algorithm developed to generate incoherent/coherent change maps is also presented. In order to examine this approach to change detection on a practical basis, a high-resolution 24 GHz drone-borne SAR system is used, for the first time, to demonstrate and quantify performance based on real-world experiments.