Interpretation of buildings in high resolution sar images based on electromagnetic method

High resolution SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) will provide an innovative tool for urban area applications. Nevertheless, interpretation of SAR image in urban area is far from solved by the increase of spatial resolution. It is usually difficult to establish a determined relationship between scattering centers in high resolution SAR images and the basic units of building targets. In order to thoroughly understand the backscattering behaviour of building targets in high resolution SAR images, a method of high resolution SAR imaging simulation based on electromagnetic model is proposed in this paper, which mainly includes 3-D model establishment for the building target, triangular facets partition, RCS prediction for each facet, and SAR imaging through coherent superposition of echo from each triangular facet. Through comparison of the simulated and the original SAR image, building scatter mechanisms in high resolution SAR images can be well interpreted.