Synthetic Aperture Radar Image Coding

Abstract : Many factors govern the design of image coding systems, ranging from the sensor type through storage and transmission limitations to the imagery end use. Image compression performance depends on the costs of storage or transmission bandwidth (in bits per pixel), computational burden (in operations per second), information loss (utility), and artifacts that may change the receiver operating characteristics (probability of detection versus number of false alarms per area). We describe how general image coding concepts are specialized for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery; and we discuss design trade offs with respect to representation systems, quantizers, and bit allocation. We also discuss criteria and techniques for evaluating the performance of compression systems.