General Information

This plugin generates derived SAR parameters (viz. vegetation indices, polarimetric decomposition parameters) from input polarimetric matrix (C3, T3, C2, T2). The input data needs to be in PolSARpro/ENVI format (*.bin and *.hdr). It requires numpy, matplotlib python libraries pre-installed.

Installation

Note

SAR tools requires QGIS version >=3.0.

  • The easiest way (requires internet connection) :
    • Open QGIS -> Plugins -> Manage and Install Plugins… –> select All tab -> search for SAR tools –> select and install plugin

  • Alternative way (offline installation) :
    • Go to releases of SAR tools -> select desired version -> download the .zip file.

    • Open QGIS -> Plugins -> Manage and Install Plugins… –> install from ZIP tab –> select the downloaded zip –> install plugin (ignore warnings, if any).

Up and running

After successful installation, find the plugin by opening QGIS –> Plugins –> SAR tools –> Process. As shown in the following figure.

../_images/open_ui.png

Opening the plugin

../_images/main_ui.png

GUI-Main window layout

Layout:

  1. Data type tabs: Functions are arranged according to the data dype (full-, compact- and dual-pol).

  2. Function detials viewer: Contains list of functions for respective data tab.

  3. Derived arameter selection, required input variables and constraints.

  4. Input data folder

  5. Logger: displays the log of procesing parameters

  6. progressbar: displays the progress of current task.

  7. Credits and quick help.

Additional reset button to clear the envirinment, view data button to import the data into QGIS environment and Process button to start processing after selecting valid input data variables.

Available functionalities

  1. Full-pol

  • Model free 3-Component decomposition for full-pol data (MF3CF)

  • Radar Vegetation Index (RVI)

  • Generalized volume Radar Vegetation Index (GRVI)

  • Polarimetric Radar Vegetation Index (PRVI)

  • Degree of Polarization (DOP)

  1. Compact-pol

  • Model free 3-Component decomposition for compact-pol data (MF3CC)

  • Improved S-Omega decomposition for compact-pol data (iS-Omega)

  • Compact-pol Radar Vegetation Index (CpRVI)

  • Degree of Polarization (DOP)

  1. Dual-pol

  • Dual-pol Radar Vegetation Index (DpRVI) [4]

  • Radar Vegetation Index (RVI) [3]

  • Degree of Polarization (DOP) [1]

  • Polarimetric Radar Vegetation Index (PRVI) [2]

Example usage

Note

All the following processing steps should be done in sequential manner. Sample data for all the polarization modes is provided in [sample_data](/sample_data/) folder.

STEP 1: Open the plugin as explained in Up and running section.

STEP 2: Select the polarimetric data type (Full/compact/dual).

../_images/step2.png

Selecting the polarimetric mode

STEP 3: Select the parameter/descriptor from the dropdown menu.

../_images/step3.png

Selecting the polarimetric descriptor

STEP 4: Provide the required input variables.

../_images/step4.png

Selecting the input variables

STEP 5: Select the input matrix folder.

../_images/step5.png

Selecting the input folder

STEP 6: Wait for the logger to prompt `->> Ready to process.` –> click process

Note

Do not click process button more than once while it is processing. It may crash the QGIS and the plugin. It is possible that the plugin may show not responding for larger datasets but please wait for the process to complete.

../_images/step6.png

Processing the data for selected descriptor

STEP 7 (optional): Click view data to import the data into QGIS for vizualisation of the generated descriptors.

../_images/step7a.png

Importing the data into QGIS for visualization

../_images/step7b.png

Imported data in QGIS

Functions description

Description and the details of all the core functions of this plugin are available here: (Functions description)

Contributions

  1. Contribute to the software

  2. Report issues or problems with the software

Please raise your issues here : https://github.com/Narayana-Rao/SAR-tools/issues

  1. Seek support

Please write to us: bnarayanarao@iitb.ac.in