Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in Tropical Forest area in Indonesia

Abstract

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique is one of the most efficient ways to provide global digital elevation models (DEMs) due to its all-weather, all-day characteristics, and the automatic high-efficiency processing methods. ERS-1/2 tandem images pairs have been used  in tropical forests in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia to generate DEM by applying InSAR technique. Derived DEM based InSAR has been assessed by comparing highly accurate independent ground check points collected using differential global position system (DGPS) with DEM elevation. Analyses of InSAR DEM accuracy indicate that DEMs with root mean square error (RMSE) of less than 5 m are possible in the study  area and could meet many objectives of a global mapping mission. Applying adaptive filtering many times with a decreasing window size has a strong impact to reduce the number of residues, which can increase the phase unwrapping efficiency and that lead the final RMSE DEM accuracy to be less than 3 m.