Analysis of built-up classes in urbanised zones using radar images

This paper presents the results of a study to determine the potential of radar imaging to detect classes of built-up areas defined in the Urban Atlas (UA) spatial database. The classes are distinguished by function and building density. In addition to the reflectance value itself, characteristics such as building density or spatial layout can improve the identification of these classes. In order to increase the classification possibilities and better exploit the potential of radar imagery, a grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) was generated to analyse the texture of built-up classes. Two types of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) images from different sensors were used as test data: Sentinel-1 and ICEYE, which were selected for their different setup configurations and parameters. Classification was carried out using the Random Forests (RF) and Minimum Distance (MD) methods. The use of the MD classifier resulted in an overall accuracy of 64% and 51% for Sentinel-1 and ICEYE, respectively. In ICEYE, individual objects (e.g. buildings) are better recognised than classes defined by their function or density, as in UA classes. Sentinel-1 performed better than ICEYE, with its texture images better complementing the features of urban area classes. This remains a significant challenge due to the complexity of urban areas in defining and characterising urban area classes. Automatic acquisition of training fields directly from UA is problematic and it is therefore advisable to independently obtain reference data for built-up area categories.