Error Analysis and Accuracy Assessment of InSAR Phase Unwrapping

The accuracy of phase unwrapping influences directly the accuracy of DEM in InSAR processing. This paper begins with classifying existing phase unwrapping algorithms based on the principle of phase unwrapping; then error sources of InSAR phase unwrapping are summarized and simulated data has been taken to analyze the influence of error; thirdly, two assessment methods, rewrapping after unwrapping and elevation comparison method separately, are adopted to evaluate phase unwrapping accuracy of a group of simulated and true data; Finally, some conclusions are given and an optimal strategy for phase unwrapping is presented at the end of this paper after the error analysis and accuracy assessment of InSAR phase unwrapping. Keyword: phase unwrapping, error analysis, accuracy assessment, residual.