An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion

Synthetic aperture radar tomography (TomoSAR) is widely used in reconstructing forest vertical structure, but accurately locating both ground and canopy scatterers in dense forest areas remains challenging. In this article, a novel sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) based TomoSAR method is proposed to a...

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Main Authors: Jie Wan, Changcheng Wang, Peng Shen, Yonghui Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11008668/
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author Jie Wan
Changcheng Wang
Peng Shen
Yonghui Wei
author_facet Jie Wan
Changcheng Wang
Peng Shen
Yonghui Wei
author_sort Jie Wan
collection DOAJ
description Synthetic aperture radar tomography (TomoSAR) is widely used in reconstructing forest vertical structure, but accurately locating both ground and canopy scatterers in dense forest areas remains challenging. In this article, a novel sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) based TomoSAR method is proposed to achieve super-resolution reconstruction of forest vertical structure. Two important improvements are considered in the process of SBL SAR tomography. First, a hybrid sparse basis is employed to accurately transform and reconstruct the forest vertical structure profile with different scattering mechanisms. Second, an adaptive singular value decomposition method is employed to address the instability issue caused by ill-conditioned inversion in Bayesian inference. Furthermore, leveraging high-resolution TomoSAR profiles significantly enhances the performance of forest vertical structure parameter inversion. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated using multibaseline P-band airborne SAR images acquired in tropical forests at two distinct test sites. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved high-resolution SAR tomography imaging outcomes even within a limited baseline span. In terms of forest structure parameter inversion, the root mean square error (RMSE) of inverted forest height is 2.58 and 4.16 m compared to LiDAR measurements, while the RMSE of inverted underlying topography is 1.77 and 5.49 m. The proposed method is instrumental in retrieving large-scale forest structure parameters, particularly in preparation for the upcoming BIOMASS mission.
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spelling doaj-art-e9ca75e281f44555b414babd851b0d2a2025-08-20T03:26:09ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing1939-14042151-15352025-01-0118137011371810.1109/JSTARS.2025.357219811008668An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure InversionJie Wan0Changcheng Wang1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4461-068XPeng Shen2Yonghui Wei3School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaSchool of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha, ChinaSynthetic aperture radar tomography (TomoSAR) is widely used in reconstructing forest vertical structure, but accurately locating both ground and canopy scatterers in dense forest areas remains challenging. In this article, a novel sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) based TomoSAR method is proposed to achieve super-resolution reconstruction of forest vertical structure. Two important improvements are considered in the process of SBL SAR tomography. First, a hybrid sparse basis is employed to accurately transform and reconstruct the forest vertical structure profile with different scattering mechanisms. Second, an adaptive singular value decomposition method is employed to address the instability issue caused by ill-conditioned inversion in Bayesian inference. Furthermore, leveraging high-resolution TomoSAR profiles significantly enhances the performance of forest vertical structure parameter inversion. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated using multibaseline P-band airborne SAR images acquired in tropical forests at two distinct test sites. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved high-resolution SAR tomography imaging outcomes even within a limited baseline span. In terms of forest structure parameter inversion, the root mean square error (RMSE) of inverted forest height is 2.58 and 4.16 m compared to LiDAR measurements, while the RMSE of inverted underlying topography is 1.77 and 5.49 m. The proposed method is instrumental in retrieving large-scale forest structure parameters, particularly in preparation for the upcoming BIOMASS mission.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11008668/Forest heightforest vertical structuresparse Bayesian learning (SBL)synthetic aperture radar tomography (TomoSAR)underlying topography
spellingShingle Jie Wan
Changcheng Wang
Peng Shen
Yonghui Wei
An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Forest height
forest vertical structure
sparse Bayesian learning (SBL)
synthetic aperture radar tomography (TomoSAR)
underlying topography
title An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion
title_full An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion
title_fullStr An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion
title_full_unstemmed An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion
title_short An Improved Sparse Bayesian Learning SAR Tomography Method and its Application for Forest Vertical Structure Inversion
title_sort improved sparse bayesian learning sar tomography method and its application for forest vertical structure inversion
topic Forest height
forest vertical structure
sparse Bayesian learning (SBL)
synthetic aperture radar tomography (TomoSAR)
underlying topography
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11008668/
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