Determining the Points of Change in Time Series of Polarimetric SAR Data

We present the likelihood ratio test statistic for the homogeneity of several complex variance–covariance matrices that may be used in order to assess whether at least one change has taken place in a time series of SAR data. Furthermore, we give a factorization of this test statistic into a product of test statistics that each tests simpler hypotheses of homogeneity up to a certain point and that are independent if the hypothesis of total homogeneity is true. This factorization is used in determining the (pixelwise) time points of change in a series of six L-band EMISAR polarimetric SAR data. The pixelwise analyses are applied on homogeneous subareas covered with different vegetation types using the distribution of the observed p-values.