SAR Interferometric Time Series Methods for Monitoring Natural Surfaces

This project involves developing novel methods for improving the estimation of surface displacement of natural earth surfaces using Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). The developed methods improve the precision that can be obtained when analyzing a series of sequentially acquired images over the same area. The methods also improve the robustness of the estimation in the presence of strong spatial signal gradients. Together these improvements aim to broaden the envelope of earth surface displacement processes that can be robustly monitored with InSAR. In particular the project will extend the investigation of these methods to the X-band radar frequency band by utilizing SAR imagery acquired by the TerraSAR-X and TandDEM-X satellites which are operated by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). The project outcome will be a documented assessment of the benefits realized with these methods and how well their performance extends to X-band datasets.

Faculty Supervisor:

Bernhard Rabus

Student:

Partner:

Technical University of Munich

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Aerospace; Environmental Science and Technology; Natural Resources

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: