The AIRSAR image browse system

The volume of data acquired by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) missions motivates the development of a technique that will provide investigators with timely access to image data, and the capability to visually inspect images to determine various characteristics of the data collected, as well as the extent of the data coverage. A system was designed for accessing and browsing an on-line archive of NASA Airborne SAR (AIRSAR) imagery and is being developed as an extension to the SAR Data Catalog System (SDCS). The AIRSAR browse system consists of three elements: (1) an on-line, compressed imagery archive; (2) a user interface for selecting and accessing the on-line images; and (3) a software application program for reconstructuring and displaying the images. Details of these elements are described. The goals are to maximize the utilization of the AIRSAR data set, and to demonstrate the image browse concept for SAR data so that baseline catalog systems supporting SIR-C and future SAR missions will feature this capability.