Simulation of the Effects of Hard Limiting on Image Quality of Synthetic Aperture RadarStarting with a magnetic tape of a scene viewed by the Landsat satellite, the radar return of reflectors whose average intensity matched that of the picture elements in the scene has been simulated. The returns were processed in three ways: normally or with no quantization, with a procedure simulation IF hard limiting, and with a procedure simulating video (baseband) hard limiting. For each type of processing an image for a one, two, and four-look system has been developed. It was found that IF limiting is slightly better than video limiting, while both can be reasonable trade-offs of image quality for reduced data rates when the number of looks is four or less. These conclusions are supported by photographs representing the different processing techniques.
Document ID
19770067053
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Lipes, R. G. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Butman, S. A. (California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena Calif., United States)