InSAR urban DEM generation using Extended Kalman filter

Phase Unwrapping (PhU) is the operation needed in order to generate 3-Dimensional height profile starting from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data acquired in the interferometric configuration. Due to the presence of height discontinuities (buildings) and due to the presence of noise, PhU becomes a difficult task to face in urban scenarios. In this paper we propose a new methodology especially thought for generating 3D height profiles of urban areas when multiple interferograms are available. The technique is based on the use of Kalman Filter in its Extended form (Extended Kalman Filter - EKF). The main peculiarity of the technique is the introduction of a specific step in the PhU procedure able to identify the possible height discontinuities and to consequently adapt the EKF behaviour. The algorithm is validated on both simulated and real cases.