Multi-Source Vertical Obstruction Generation

TSC will develop innovative methods to automatically extract Vertical Obstructions (VOs) from multiple sources of remotely sensed imagery. Initial estimates of the locations and heights of VOs will be extracted from Interferometric SAR (IFSAR) based DSMs using a modified version of TSC's existing Automatic Vertical Obstruction Detection (AVOD) program. The VO locations and heights from AVOD, which can be significantly in error due to the phenomenology associated with IFSAR sensors, will automatically be refined using photogrammetric techniques applied to stereo photography pairs. Attribution of the VOs will also be performed. The resultant VOs are expected to have very accurate horizontal and vertical estimates, and should include all of the VOs visible in an area of interest. TSC will also develop accuracy estimates for the VOs based on the characteristics of the sensors used, and will performed a validation of the VO extraction process using GFE or TSC in-house datasets. Approaches for merging the extracted VOs with existing datasets will also be explored in Phase I. TSC will leverage its experience in photogrammetry, deep understanding of SAR and IFSAR phenomenology and processing from numerous DoD R&D efforts, as well as experience with commercial IFSAR platforms including Star3i and GeoSAR.