Improved multilook technique applied to SAR images

The multilook technique used in synthetic aperture radar image formation consists of adding incoherently M looks. As these looks can be obtained in their complex form and are correlated, the phase and correlation information should be taken into account in the speckle reduction process. We propose an improved multilook technique based on the use of these two information. We apply it to SAR images displaying ship wakes. Our technique consists of enhancing a specific texture in the image, using a set of filters matched to it, while simultaneously reducing the speckle. The filters are applied on each look, and the resulting images are projected onto a particular basis. The final image is constituted by the quadratic sum of the processed looks, after their projection on the same geographic plane. The illustrative results of image comparison and analysis show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm