• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.475-491
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• 2021

With the recent increase in available high-resolution (< ~1 m) satellite SAR images, the demand for precise registration of SAR images is increasing in various fields including change detection. The registration between high-resolution SAR images acquired in different look angle is difficult due to speckle noise and geometric distortion caused by the characteristics of SAR images. In this study, registration is performed in two stages, coarse and fine, using the x-band SAR data imaged at staring spotlight mode of TerraSAR-X. For the coarse registration, a method combining the adaptive sampling method and SAR-SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) is applied, and three rigid methods (NCC: Normalized Cross Correlation, Phase Congruency-NCC, MI: Mutual Information) and one non-rigid (Gefolki: Geoscience extended Flow Optical Flow Lucas-Kanade Iterative), for the fine registration stage, was performed for performance comparison. The results were compared by using RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) and FSIM (Feature Similarity) index, and all rigid models showed poor results in all image combinations. It is confirmed that the rigid models have a large registration error in the rugged terrain area. As a result of applying the Gefolki algorithm, it was confirmed that the RMSE of Gefolki showed the best result as a 1~3 pixels, and the FSIM index also obtained a higher value than 0.02~0.03 compared to other rigid methods. It was confirmed that the mis-registration due to terrain effect could be sufficiently reduced by the Gefolki algorithm.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.299-309
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• 2013

A comprehensive SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar) simulation is considered to be a complicated task since a full knowledge of the signal propagation characteristics, antenna pattern, system internal errors and interference noises should be taken into account. In high resolution target application modes, the time varying nature of target RCS(Radar Cross Section) strongly affects the generated SAR images. In this paper, in-depth SAR simulations are performed and analyzed incorporating the STK tools and MATLAB software. STK provides realistic orbit parameters while its radar module helps to extract accurate radiometric parameters of ground targets. SAR raw data corresponding to a given target is generated and processed using MATLAB simulator. The performance is measured by PSLR(Peak Sidelobe Ratio) and ISLR(Integrated Sidelobe Ratio) for a point target, which can be used as reference parameters for accurate radiometric calibration. Finally, high resolution target simulations are performed by adopting time varying target RCS characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.671-682
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• 2012

Strong backscattering features from high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Rader (SAR) image provide useful information to analyze earth surface characteristics such as man-made objects in urban areas. The SAR image has, however, some limitations on description of detail information in urban areas compared to optical images. In this paper, we propose a new classification method using a fused SAR and Electro-Optical (EO) image, which provides more informative classification result than that of a single-sensor SAR image classification. The experimental results showed that the proposed method achieved successful results in combination of the SAR image classification and EO image characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.111-125
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• 2015

In this study, the target detection using both high-resolution satellite SAR and Elecro-Optical (EO) images such as TerraSAR-X and WorldView-2 is performed, considering the characteristics of targets. The targets of our interest are featured by being stationary and appearing as cluster targets. After the target detection of SAR image by using Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) algorithm, a series of processes is performed in order to reduce false alarms, including pixel clustering, network clustering and coherence analysis. We extend further our algorithm by adopting the fast and effective ellipse detection in EO image using randomized hough transform, which is significantly reducing the number of false alarms. The performance of proposed algorithm has been tested and analyzed on TerraSAR-X SAR and WordView-2 EO images. As a result, the average false alarm for group of targets is 1.8 groups/$64km^2$ and the false alarms of single target range from 0.03 to 0.3 targets/$km^2$. The results show that groups of targets are successfully identified with very low false alarms.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.141-150
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• 2024

Ground subsidence in urban areas is mainly caused by anthropogenic factors such as excessive groundwater extraction and underground infrastructure development in the subsurface composed of soft materials. Global Navigation Satellite System data with high temporal resolution have been widely used to measure surface displacements accurately. However, these point-based terrestrial measurements with the low spatial resolution are somewhat limited in observing two-dimensional continuous surface displacements over large areas. The synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) technique can construct relatively high spatial resolution surface displacement information with accuracy ranging from millimeters to centimeters. Although constellation operations of SAR satellites have improved the revisit cycle, the temporal resolution of space-based observations is still low compared to in-situ observations. In this study, we evaluate the extraction of a time-series of surface displacement in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea, using the small baseline subset technique implemented using the commercial software, Gamma. For this purpose, 24 COSMO-SkyMed X-band SAR observations were collected from July 12, 2011, to August 27, 2012. The time-series surface displacement results were improved by reducing random phase noise, correcting residual phase due to satellite orbit errors, and mitigating nonlinear atmospheric phase artifacts. The perpendicular baseline of the collected COSMO-SkyMed SAR images was set to approximately 2-300 m. The surface displacement related to the ground subsidence was detected approximately 1 cm annually around a few Incheon Subway Line 2 route stations. The sufficient coherence indicates that the satellite orbit has been precisely managed for the interferometric processing.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.320-323
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• 2008

This study attempts to establish a system extracting and monitoring cultural grounds of seaweeds (lavers, brown seaweeds and seaweed fulvescens) and abalone on the basis of both KOMPSAT-2 and Terrasar-X data. The study areas are located in the northwest and southwest coast of South Korea, famous for coastal cultural grounds. The northwest site is in a high tidal range area (on the average, 6.1 min Asan Bay) and has laver cultural grounds for the most. An semi-automatic detection system of laver facilities is described and assessed for spacebome optic images. On the other hand, the southwest cost is most famous for seaweeds. Aquaculture facilities, which cover extensive portions of this area, can be subdivided into three major groups: brown seaweeds, capsosiphon fulvescens and abalone farms. The study is based on interpretation of optic and SAR satellite data and a detailed image analysis procedure is described here. On May 25 and June 2, 2008 the TerraSAR-X radar satellite took some images of the area. SAR data are unique for mapping those farms. In case of abalone farms, the backscatters from surrounding dykes allows for recognition and separation of abalone ponds from all other water-covered surfaces. But identification of seaweeds such as laver, brown seaweeds and seaweed fulvescens depends on the dampening effect due to the presence of the facilities and is a complex task because objects that resemble seaweeds frequently occur, particularly in low wind or tidal conditions. Lastly, fusion of SAR and optic spatial images is tested to enhance the detection of aquaculture facilities by using the panchromatic image with spatial resolution 1 meter and the corresponding multi-spectral, with spatial resolution 4 meters and 4 spectrum bands, from KOMPSAT-2. The mapping accuracy achieved for farms will be estimated and discussed after field verification of preliminary results.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1124-1126
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• 2003

The processes of regional scales in the East Korean coastal waters were investigated by analysis of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images taken by the European Research Satellites ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat. More than 500 quick look frames taken in 1991-2003 were examined to detect the frames with clearly surface expressions of oceanic phenomena. 26 ERS-1/2 SAR and 11 Envisat wide swath Advanced SAR (ASAR) frames were selected and obtained from the European Space Agency in a form of the precision high-resolution images. The following oceanic phenomena and processes were evident in the radar imagery through the Korean costal waters: fronts, currents, eddies, internal waves, island and ship wakes, oil pollution, etc. They manifested themselves in the field of sea surface roughness, their scale ranged from several tens meters to about 100 km. The most common morphology of these phenomena was a series of contrast dark or light curvilinear lines and bands. The joint analysis of the discussed SAR images with other satellite and in situ data supported and enhanced our interpretation of SAR signatures.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2007

The processes of regional scales in the East Korean coastal waters were investigated by analysis of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images taken by the European Research Satellites ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat. More than 500 quick look frames taken in 1991-2003 were examined to detect the frames with clearly surface expressions of oceanic phenomena. 26 ERS-1/2 SAR and 11 Envisat wide swath Advanced SAR (ASAR) frames were selected and obtained from the European Space Agency in a form of the precision high-resolution images. The following oceanic phenomena and processes were evident in the radar imagery through the Korean costal waters: fronts, currents, eddies, internal waves, island and ship wakes, oil pollution, etc. They manifested themselves in the field of sea surface roughness, their scale ranged from several tens meters to about 100 km. The most common morphology of these phenomena was a series of contrast dark or light curvilinear lines and bands. The joint analysis of the discussed SAR images with other satellite and in situ data supported and enhanced our interpretation of SAR signatures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.1639-1644
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• 2014

SAR satellite can acquire clear imagery regardless of weather and the images are widely used for land management, natural hazard monitoring and many other applications. Automatic image matching technique is necessary for management of a huge amount of SAR data. Nevertheless, it is difficult to assure the accuracy of image matching due to the difference of image-capturing attitude and time. In this paper, we compared performances of MI method, FMT method and SIFT method by applying arbitrary displacement and rotation to TerraSAR-X images and changing resolution of the images. As a result, when the features having specific intensity were distributed well in SAR imagery, MI method could assure 0~2 pixels accuracy even if the images were captured in different geometry. But the accuracy of FMT method was significantly poor for the images having different spatial resolutions and the error was represented by tens or hundreds pixels. Moreover, the ratio of corresponding matching points for SIFT method was only 0~17% and it was difficult for SIFT method to apply to SAR images captured in different geometry.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2017

Synthetic aperture radar(SAR) has been widely used for reconnaissance. It provides high-resolution, day-and-night and weather-independent images for a multitude of applications. Because SAR coherently combines many viewing angles to effectively create a large aperture(narrow beam) radar, the test-bed should be capable of moving straightly SAR sensor for the integration angle to meet resolution. This paper describes the test-bed developed to test and evaluate the SAR performance. It forms high-quality images in real time and saves the raw data for the purpose of post processing on the ground.