Microwave Image Processing: Exploring SAR images from Foundations to Frontiers through Python

shubham_thb


Description:

The microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum when utilized for Imaging says a lot about our mother earth. Embark on an exciting and magical journey with me as I take you to explore earth through the glimpse of Synthetic Aperture Radar Images utilizing the magic wand called Python!!!

Introduction

Remote Sensing has proved to be an important tool in monitoring our earth eco-system. The satellite imaging is a vital part of Remote Sensing. Predominantly, Satellite Imaging of the earth has been done in the optical domain and optical Images serve the majority of purpose for earth monitoring. But, these satellites do not have all-weather acquisition capability and this lacuna is filled by the satellite sensors working in the Microwave domain of the Electromagnetic spectrum. Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR) is an Imaging Radar that acquires images of a particular area in the microwave region. This workshop deals with the processing of SAR Images and how these images can be beneficial in a variety of geographical applications.

Intended Audience

The workshop will be aimed at the audience belonging to any level of education. It will introduce them to the wonderful class of SAR images and how are these images useful from the perspective of various applications.

Expected Outcomes

After the workshop, the audience will be :

  1. Able to understand the acquisition of SAR imagery.
  2. Able to understand the types of datasets utilized in remote sensing
  3. Able to use the GDAL library to perform operations on images
  4. Able to efficiently process SAR imagery using Python
  5. Able to draw a roadmap in order to utilize SAR imagery for geographic applications

Outline

The Workshop will be divided into the following sub-sessions :

Sub-Session-1: Introduction to Microwave Remote Sensing (30 minutes) - This part will discuss the foundations of Microwave Remote Sensing. Theoretical aspects regarding the acquisition of images, the formation of images encompassing the generation of complex images and ground range detected images will be discussed.

Sub-Session-2: Pythonic Way to SAR Image Processing (120 minutes): This part will focus on achieving the following Key points:

  1. Basic utilization of GDAL, Numpy and Matplotlib Libraries for opening and visualizing Images
  2. Codes will be developed separately for calibration for each SAR sensor(esp. Sentinel-1, Radarsat-2) from scratch.
  3. Utilization of the codes developed in (2) for various applications such as Oceanography, Forests, etc.

Datasets: Free Imagery data sets of Sentinel-1 SAR will be utilized. In addition, Sample Data sets of Radarsat-2, RISAT- 1 which are freely downloadable will be utilized. For beginner-level understanding of the datasets, the participants can download and utilize the Sentinel-1 SAR free Image dataset.Sentinel-1 Free SAR Imagery

Conduct of the workshop : The workshop will be conducted through the means of Jupyter Notebooks. Along with the sessions, the audience will be provided with the exercises to clear their concepts of SAR Imagery.

Prerequisites:

  1. A Laptop with Windows or Linux based system with min. 4GB RAM.
    1. Participants must have Python 3.5 and above pre-installed in their laptops. It’s better to have Anaconda Python Distribution installed.
    2. GDAL, numpy, and matplotlib libraries are required to be installed beforehand.
    3. No prior background knowledge required.
    4. Basic knowledge of numpy will be beneficial.

Speaker Info:

Shubham Sharma is working as a freelance researcher in the domain of Microwave Remote Sensing. Previously, he has worked as a Junior Research Fellow on a collaborative project titled "Calibration and Validation of RISAT-1 SAR sensor" with Calibration and Validation Division of Space Applications Centre(SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad. He has been working with satellite images utilizing python for the past three years. He has also delivered a talk on "Satellite Image Processing with Python" at Pycon India,2018 held at Hyderabad. In addition, he has delivered sessions on "Calibration of SAR data with Python" as a part of the Workshop on Calibration and Validation of Satellite sensors and derived products conducted by TREES, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad from 22 -26 Oct 2018. He loves teaching Python Programming for Satellite image analysis.

Section: Scientific Computing
Type: Workshop
Target Audience: Beginner
Last Updated: