Detection of Durable and Permanent Changes in Urban Areas Using Multitemporal Polarimetric UAVSAR Data

Change detection using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data is useful in emergency situations and unfavorable weather conditions. In this letter, change detection using multitemporal polarimetric Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR data is investigated in an urban environment. The most robust polarimetric parameters are determined, and change detection techniques using a maximum likelihood ratio and a hyperbolic tangent model function are applied to the selected parameter. The model function was introduced to quantify the change characteristics and to rule out seasonal changes or those related to mobile features, and thus to only detect durable and permanent changes in urban environments. A comparison of results with historical Google Earth images showed a good level of agreement. Fitting of the hyperbolic tangent function to the multitemporal polarimetric parameters significantly reduces the false detection rate and indicates whether a building was constructed or destroyed, as well as when the detected changes occurred.