Venue: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique
(INRS-ETE),Quebec, Canada
About the School
Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar techniques has emerged as a valuable asset in enhancing the capabilities of traditional Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) applications. For instance, the utilization of PolSAR data extends beyond quad-pol or full polarimetry, encompassing coherent dual-pol and compact-pol, presenting a notable advantage by incorporating polarimetric information without compromising other essential image parameters such as resolution, swath, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In agriculture, PolSAR is invaluable for monitoring crop conditions and types, analyzing polarization responses to gain insights into crop health and growth stages, and identifying diseases or pest infestations. Environmental monitoring benefits from PolSAR's accurate land cover classification, distinguishing forests, wetlands, and urban areas. In forestry, PolSAR aids in assessing forest structure, estimating biomass, and monitoring deforestation. PolSAR is also crucial in disaster management, evaluating areas impacted by floods, earthquakes, or landslides, and identifying disaster-prone regions for timely responses. PolSAR data's versatility enhances our understanding of Earth's dynamic processes across multiple domains.
Recognizing the paramount importance of advanced SARtechniques, several dedicated satellite sensors such as SAOCOM (CONAE), RCM (CSA&MDA), RISAT2 (ISRO), ALOS-2 (JAXA), BIOMASS & ROSE-L (ESA), and NISAR (NASA&ISRO) have been meticulously designed to support polarimetric and interferometric applications. Notably, the upcoming BIOMASS mission is poised to mark a groundbreaking milestone as the first operational use of quad-pol-only data from space. Despite the myriad benefits offered by PolSAR over single-pol SAR, harnessing its information requires robust statistical, physical, and machine-learning methodologies. Ongoing research endeavours worldwide are focused on developing innovative retrieval algorithms for PolSAR.
The proposed 'IEEE-GRSSInternational School on Advanced SAR Remote Sensing' in Quebec aims to introduce remote sensing concepts and algorithms related to advanced SAR techniques to address this challenge. This initiative provides a comprehensive overview of physics and statistics to young postgraduates and PhD students. The school seeks to foster meaningful interactions between participants and resource persons, laying the groundwork for potential collaborations. Furthermore, it aims to acquaint participants with the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) activities, integrating them into the growing GRSS community.