Anisotropic adaptive filtering for speckle reduction in synthetic aperture radar images

Kie B. Eom

doi:10.1117/1.3577699

1 May 2011 Anisotropic adaptive filtering for speckle reduction in synthetic aperture radar images

Kie B. Eom

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 50, Issue 5, 057206 (May 2011). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3577699

Abstract

The speckle reduction is an important problem in coherent imaging, such as synthetic aperture radar or ultrasound imagery. Speckle is a nonadditive and nonwhite process, and the reduction of speckle without blurring sharp features is known to be difficult. We present a new speckle reduction algorithm that utilizes an anisotropic directional filter that adapts to the proximity and direction of nearest important features. To remove speckle without blurring important features, the locations and direction of edges in the image are estimated. Then for each pixel in the image, the distance and angle to the nearest edge are computed by an efficient algorithm and stored in distance and angle maps. Finally, for each pixel, an anisotropic directional filter aligned to the nearest edge is applied. The shape and the orientation of the filter are determined from the distance and the angle maps. The new speckle reduction algorithm is tested with both synthesized and real synthetic aperture radar images. The performance of the new algorithm is also compared to those of earlier speckle reduction approaches. We show that the new algorithm performs favorably compared to other speckle reduction algorithms in reducing speckle without blurring important features.

©(2011) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Citation Download Citation

Kie B. Eom "Anisotropic adaptive filtering for speckle reduction in synthetic aperture radar images," Optical Engineering 50(5), 057206 (1 May 2011). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3577699

Published: 1 May 2011

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available