Signal subspace change detection in averaged multi-look SAR imagery

Modern Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signal processing algorithms could retrieve accurate and subtle information regarding a scene that is being interrogated by an airborne radar system. An important reconnaissance problem that is being studied via the use of SAR systems and their sophisticated signal processing methods involves detecting changes in an imaged scene. In these problems, the user interrogates a scene with a SAR system at two different time points (e.g. different days); the resultant two SAR databases that we refer to as reference and test data, are used to determine where targets have entered or left the imaged scene between the two data acquisitions. For instance, X band SAR systems have the potential to become a potent tool to determine whether mines have been recently placed in an area. This paper describes an algorithm for detecting changes in averaged multi-look SAR imagery. Averaged multi-look SAR images are preferable to full aperture SAR reconstructions when the imaging algorithm is approximation based (e.g. polar format processing), or motion data are not accurate over a long full aperture. We study the application of a SAR detection method, known as Signal Subspace Processing, that is based on the principles of 2D adaptive filtering. We identify the change detection problem as a binary hypothesis-testing problem, and identify an error signal and its normalized version to determine whether i) there is no change in the imaged scene; or ii) a target has been added to the imaged scene. A statistical analysis of the error signal is provided to show its properties and merits. Results are provided for data collected by an X band SAR platform and processed to form non-coherently look-averaged SAR images.