Wishart classification comparison between compact and quad-polarimetric SAR imagery using RADARSAT2 data

Compact Polarimetry (CP) is a recent technique that affords more target information than a single-pol system, while not suffering as much from the drawbacks of a quad-pol system. In this paper, we present a study of the polarimetric information content of CP- and FP-pol imaging modes. We compare Wishart classifications of the CP data set against the full quad-pol datasetat C-band. Primarily, we use the two dimensional scatter plots to compare between the intrinsic polarimetric parameters which are the entropy (H) and the angle alpha (a) for both modes. Secondly, we generate the polarimetric signatures for different terrain objects from CP- and FP data. Finally, we show overall comparison results and classification accuracy. This CP mode solution has proven to be very attractive but can still be improved. We illustrate our results by using the polarimetric images of Algiers city, Algeria acquired by the RADARSAT2 satellite in C-band.