Marco Lavalle

Research ExperiencePolarimetric SAR Interferometry– Implemented and improved the whole polarimetric and interferometric processingchain including: coregistration of SLC products, coherence estimation and statisticalanalysis, interferogram optimization, generation of flat Earth and verticalwavenumber maps, interferogram flattening and vegetation parameters estimation.– Developed new algorithms of POLINSAR coherence optimization (FRINGE2007).– Proposed a new procedure for forest parameters retrieval based on the correctionof distortions induced by terrain slope. Tested over airborne and spaceborne SARdata (IGARSS2008, ALOS-PI-SYMPOSIUM2008, POLINSAR2009).Compact Polarimetry– Introduced the interferometric formulation of the compact polarimetry based onthe reconstruction of the pseudo full polarimetric information (EUSAR 2008).– Pointed out the effects of the SAR receiver on the quantization noise for compactpolarimetric data (POLINSAR2009).SAR Calibration– Proposed the estimation of Faraday rotation from unfocussed raw data to detectrapid spatial variations of total electron content in the ionosphere (POLINSAR2009).– Developed a calibration algorithm for dual-pol data based on gridded trihedrals;designed a specific procedure for the future ESA mission Sentinel-1 (CEOS2008).– Prepared the official ESA technical document for the absolute and polarimetriccalibration of the third-party mission ALOS-PALSAR.Forward Vegetation Modeling– Tested and debugged the forward coherent SAR model embedded in POLSARPROSIM.Analyzed the dependence of bio-physical parameters on the POLINSAR coherence.– Studied the differences between the RVOG coherence model and the POLINSARobservables estimated from PolSARProSIM output.Basic SAR Processing– Tested and debugged the ESA ALOS-PALSAR Verification Processor during its developmentphase and provided support for the project managing.– Investigated on the effects of the non-linearity of the ALOS-PALSAR VerificationProcessor for the synthesis of compact polarimetric data and for the estimation ofFaraday rotation.Parallel Computing– Designed and implemented in Bash scripting an automatic POLINSAR processingenvironment for parallel processing of SAR simulated and real data.– Designed and developed in IDL an efficient tool for the orthorectification and mosaickingof large amount of data in distributed systems (ENVISATSYMPOSIUM2007).Contribution to the Toolbox POLSARPROProvided several C routines: ingestion of orbital timing/positions from PALSARproduct header, generation of vertical wavenumber and flat Earth maps, optimizationof POLINSAR coherence, synthesis/reconstruction of compact polarimetricand interferometric data, polarimetric calibration, Faraday rotation estimation,generation of incidence angle map.2