Performances of the 3D-SAR imagery

The use of multitemporal SAR data has been in recent years the biggest advance in radar remote sensing. Interferometry was the first application, followed by radiometric resolution and then geometric resolution enhancement, and finally, as a consequence, lay-over attenuation. A first communication proposed at IGARSS'93 a general view of the process, showing that all those applications are very similar to the general theory of radar imaging, but with extension of the classic SAR imagery to the new 3 D SAR imagery. An improvement of this theory shows that the interferometry is viewed as a super resolution method. The communication shows how this theory can provide in a quantitative way the performances of this 3D-SAR imaging, with an analysis of the coupling between the different applications. It allows one to calculate the correlation and the quality of the interferogram for differents passes and for each pixel of the image, depending on the local slope, and to derive the radiometric and geometric resolution enhancement. It leads to an optimal use of multitemporal SAR data through all those applications. >