Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for processing imagery, such as may be derived from a coherent imaging system e.g. a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The system processes sequences of SAR images of a region taken in at least two different passes and generates Coherent Change Detection (CCD) base images from corresponding images of each pass. A reference image is formed from one or more of the CCD base images images, and an incoherent change detection image formed by comparison between a given CCD base image and the reference image. The technique is able to detect targets from tracks left in soft ground, or from shadow areas caused by vehicles, and so does not rely on a reflection directly from the target itself. The technique may be implemented on data recorded in real time, or may be done in post-processing on a suitable computer system.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for processing imagery, such as may be derived from a coherent imaging system e.g. a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The system processes sequences of SAR images of a region taken in at least two different passes and generates Coherent Change Detection (CCD) base images from corresponding images of each pass. A reference image is formed from one or more of the CCD base images images, and an incoherent change detection image formed by comparison between a given CCD base image and the reference image. The technique is able to detect targets from tracks left in soft ground, or from shadow areas caused by vehicles, and so does not rely on a reflection directly from the target itself. The technique may be implemented on data recorded in real time, or may be done in post-processing on a suitable computer system.