Evaluation of accuracy in PS-based radar interferometry with simulated data

This paper analyzes the relationship between the noise level in interferometric phases at permanent scatters (PS) and the accuracy in deformation measurements with the PS-based differential SAR interferometry (PS-DInSAR). The study is carried out based on interferograms that are simulated with parameters of 26 ERS-1/2 SAR scenes over Shanghai. The results show that in the cases of high phase signal to noise ratio (noise level lower than plusmn0.5 rad), the accuracy of the deformation rates estimated with PS-DInSAR can be up to about plusmn2 mm/a, and the accuracy of the estimated elevations is about plusmn1 m. The accuracies decrease with the increase of the noise level of the phase data. When the noise level is plusmn0.8 rad, the accuracy of deformation measurements decreases to plusmn1 cm/a and that of elevation measurements decreases to plusmn3 m.