Alos Palsar Verification Processor

This paper presents a verification processor, developed under ESA contract, for the generation of polarimetric, interferometric and polarimetric-interferometric geocoded products derived from SAR data obtained from the ALOS PALSAR instrument. The processor, developed with a modular approach, contains the following main elements: Phase-preserving fine resolution processor; Phase-preserving ScanSAR processor; Interference removal tools; Polarimetric calibration tools; Polarimetric analysis tools; Fine resolution interferometric processor; ScanSAR interferometric processor; Polarimetric-interferometric processor; Geocoding; Atmospheric modelling tools. All of the PALSAR acquisition modes (i.e. stripmap in one, two and full polarisations as well as ScanSAR) are supported both starting from raw and focused data. The processor architecture is presented; highlights are given on modules and algorithms specifically developed for handling the peculiarities of these L-Band SAR data. Examples are shown obtained during the first year of operation of the system, over a number of test sites and of different types of products and acquisition modes.