Frequency coherent vs. temporally coherent targets

The Multi-Chromatic Analysis (MCA) uses interferometric pairs of SAR images processed at range sub-bands and explores the phase trend of each pixel as a function of the different central carrier frequencies. The MCA technique introduces the concept of targets exhibiting stable radar returns across the frequency domain (PSfd). In this work we compare this stability along frequencies with the temporal stability which is at the base of persistent scatterers interferometry (PSI) techniques. Different populations of PSfd and "temporal" PS were derived by using COSMOSkyMed SAR data. An ad hoc processing scheme was developed to derive PSI products by processing the same range sub-bandwidth used by the MCA in order to guarantee the same scattering conditions. The populations of PSfd and "temporal" PS were compared and preliminary considerations provided concerning the scattering properties of the targets selected by the two criteria.