ROI_pac Internals

Under the Hood

Eric Fielding
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst.
of Tech.
UNAVCO InSAR Short Course
June 16-18, 2008
 Processing Setup
• typical directory structure:
• main directory for a given track (e.g.,
d170)

• directory for topo data (DEMs), need

at least 90 m resolution, 30 m is
better

• below main directory create a

directory for each date (e.g., 930110)
or orbit (e.g., O25557)

• need satellite orbit files, usually in

 ROI_pac operation

• Obtain raw data

• Data ingestion “make_raw”
• SAR processing, interferogram
formation, etc. “process_2pass”

• Post-processing done outside of

ROI_pac, “mdx” or GMT programs
 Orbits

Condition Data Condition Data

Form SLC 1 Form SLC 2

Estimate
Tie Points

Resample Image #2
&
Form Interferogram
&
Estimate Correlation DEM GPS

Remove (Re)Estimate
Remove Topography Baseline
Model
Filter & Look Down

Unwrap
Return Phase
Model Geocod
e Independent
Data
Post-Process
&
Model

courtesy Mark Simons

ROI_pac Two-pass Processing Flow
Orbits

Condition Data Condition Data

Form SLC 1 Form SLC 2

Estimate
Tie Points

Resample Image #2
&
Form Interferogram
&
Estimate Correlation
DEM GPS

Remove (Re)Estimate
Remove Topography Baseline
Model
Filter & Look Down

Unwrap
Return Phase
Model Geocod
e Independent
Data
Post-Process
&
Model

modified from Mark Simons

 File Types
• ROI_pac uses a number of file types as both
input and output files. Most of the output
files created have a standard set of suffices
to indicate the type.

• Output file types:

• "file.type".rsc = ASCII text file containing
metadata about "file.type"

• “file”.rsc.hst = history of reads and writes to

“file”.rsc

• "file".rsc = ASCII text file with other

metadata such as baseline for interferogram
pair or reformatted orbit data
• Output fileFile
types Types
(cont’d):

• *.raw = binary file of raw data, I,Q 1-

byte integer values for each echo
sample

• *.int = complex real 8-byte binary file

containing real and imaginary parts of
the interferogram (can also be read as
real or float values band interleaved by
pixel)

• *.amp = binary file with amplitudes of

the two SAR images used to form an
interferogram, real 4-byte values band
interleaved by pixel (can also be read
as complex 8-byte values)
 File Types
• Output file types (cont’d):
• *.slc = complex real 8-byte binary file
containing real and imaginary parts of
the single-look complex (SLC) image
(and multilooked versions of the SLC)

• *.cor = binary file with average

amplitude of SAR images used to form
an interferogram and correlation
measure of coherence, real 4-byte
values band interleaved by line (BIL or
“rmg”)
 File Types
• Output file types (cont’d):
• *.off = ASCII text file of offsets
measured between two images

• *.out = ASCII text informational output

of a program

• *.hgt = binary file with simulated SAR

amplitude image and elevation in radar
coordinates, real 4-byte values band
interleaved by line (BIL or “rmg”)
 File Types
• Output file types (cont’d):
• *.aff = ASCII text file of affine
transformation to map simulated image
to actual SAR image

• *.unw = binary file with SAR amplitude

image and unwrapped phase, real 4-
byte values band interleaved by line
(BIL or “rmg”)

• *.flg = binary file with flags used and

resulting from unwrapping with
standard unwrapper, 1-byte values with
flags set in bits
 File Types
• Output file types (cont’d):
• *.msk = binary file with SAR amplitude
image and coherence with zeros in
masked out areas, real 4-byte values
band interleaved by line (BIL or “rmg”)

• *.trans = binary file with inverse

mapping transformation from SAR to
DEM coordinates, two bands are range
and azimuth pixel locations of SAR for
each DEM pixel, real 4-byte values
band interleaved by line (BIL or “rmg”)
 File Types
• Input file types:
• *.proc = ASCII text file specifying
parameters used in processing (suffix is
allowed to be different on int.proc)

• *.dem = binary file with digital

elevation model in lat-long or UTM
coordinates, signed integer 2-byte
values (in meters unless scaling
specified)

• *.in = ASCII text file created by ROI_pac

scripts used as input for a compiled
program
 SAR satellites
repea wave-
t lengt
cycle h
European ERS-1/ERS-2 1992- (days) (cm)
35 6
2001(+)
Canadian Radarsat-1 1995-
24 6
present
European Envisat 2003-present 35 6
Japanese ALOS launched Jan.
48 24
2006
German TerraSAR-X launched
11 3
July 2007
Italian COSMO/SkyMed 2
16/2 3
launched 2007
Canadian Radarsat-2 launched
24 6
Dec. 2007
 Data Ingestion
• Different ingestion programs for each
satellite type

• ERS-1 and ERS-2: use “make_raw.pl”

• Envisat: use “make_raw_envi.pl”
• ALOS: use “make_raw_alos.pl”
• Radarsat-1 has two data products from ASF
• CEOS: use “make_raw_RSAT-CEOS.pl”*
• STF: use
“make_raw_RADARSAT_swath.pl”†
* from roipac.org† in development
 Data
• name Ingestion
for scene (“date”) must(cont.)
match directory
name

• output of make_raw:
• $date.raw–unpacked raw data 8 bits I,Q for
each sample, one line per echo record, ERS
has 412 bytes extra at start of lines

• $date.raw.rsc–metadata for raw data

• hdr_data_points_$date.rsc–orbit data
reformatted

• other intermediate files, including dop.unw–

output of programs to measure Doppler
centroid of data (fit put into .raw.rsc)
• “make_raw.pl” for ERS SAR data
Data Ingestion (contd.)
• move ERS-1 and ERS-2 data into scene
directory, each frame in “CEOS” format has
three files:
• data: IMAGERY1993011018252739T1Of3
• leader:
SARLEADER1993011018252739T1Of1
• volume directory:
VDF1993011018252739T1
• make_raw.pl can concatenate many frames
from a directory, uses IMAGERY* names to
determine order
• use SARLEADER of first scene if multiple
 Data Ingestion (contd.)
• “make_raw_envi.pl” for Envisat ASAR data
• move Envisat data into scene directory, each
frame or pass has one file:
• ASA_IM__0CNPDE20040623_031040_00000075
2028_00018_12096_0013.N1 (ESA name)
• or ENV1_4_442_2871_2889_18031.baq
(WInSAR name)
• “make_raw_envi.pl” can concatenate many
frames from a directory, uses ASA* or ENV*
names to determine order
• use DOR ( ESA DORIS) or ODR (Delft) orbits in
“make_raw_envi.pl”, then use “OrbitType=HDR”
 Data Ingestion (contd.)
• Envisat ASAR data name (from ESA):
• ASA_IM__0CNPDE20040623_031040_000000752028_0001
8_12096_0013.N1

time
processing leveldate hhmmss length track orbit
must be 0 start (secs)

• Envisat ASAR data name (from WInSAR):

•ENV1_4_442_2871_2889_18031.baq

beam trackframeframe orbit

start end
 Data Ingestion (contd.)
• “make_raw_alos.pl” for ALOS PALSAR data
• move ALOS data into scene directory, each frame
format has three files (make sure you have raw
“1.0” data):
• data: IMG-HH-ALPSRP111820640-H1.0__A
• leader: LED-ALPSRP111820640-H1.0__A
• volume directory (not used): VOL-
ALPSRP111820640-H1.0__A
• make_raw_alos.pl can concatenate many frames
from a directory, uses IMG* names to determine
order
• use HDR (header) orbits (contained in LED file)
 Data Ingestion (contd.)

• ALOS PALSAR data name:

• IMG-HH-ALPSRP111820640-H1.0__A

polarization orbit frame pass direction

processing level
must be 1.0
 InSAR processing
• “process_2pass.pl” runs all the steps
after raw data ready

• “int.proc” file (can actually have any

name) in main directory (e.g. D170)
specifies two scene directories (date or
orbit) and other processing parameters
for a given interferogram

• “roi.proc” file in main directory can

specify additional parameters to apply
to focussing all scenes in that main
directory
 InSAR processing
• “process_2pass.pl int.proc [DoItFrom EndItAt]”
runs the steps, optionally can specify start and
stop points to do or re-do part of the processing

• “int.proc” file must contain:

• SarDir1 = name of image directory 1 (master
scene) with raw data

• SarDir2 = name of image directory 2 (slave

scene) with raw data

• IntDir = name of interferogram directory

(e.g., int_031101_060916), better to include
full path
 SAR Image Formation
$DoItFrom "raw"
• “process_2pass.pl” first calls
“raw2ampintcor.pl” to do SAR image
formation, tie matching, interferogram
and correlation

• ROI_pac does azimuth spectrum

filtering as part of focussing the raw
data to single-look complex (SLC)

• “dop_avg.pl” calculates the average of

the Doppler centroids of the two input
scenes and the amount of azimuth
spectrum overlap for filtering
 SAR Image Formation
• “roi_prep.pl” prepares input files for “roi”
program for each (cont’d)
scene, and creates
$date.slc.rsc files
$EndItAt “roi_prep
• “baseline.pl” calculates baseline between two
orbits for the area covered by the scenes (and
gross offsets)=> $date1_$date2_baseline.rsc
$EndItAt “orbbase”
“orbbase
• “roi” (repeat orbit interferometry) does SAR
image formation or focussing (range and
azimuth compression)

• “roi” output is full resolution single-look

complex image “$date.slc”

• option: “concurrent_roi = yes” runs roi on both

scenes at same time (good with multiple CPUs
 SAR Image Formation
(cont’d)
• Full resolution $date.slc
averaged by “look.pl” with 16
looks in range and
$pixel_ratio(default=5)*16
looks in azimuth

• output “$date_16rlks.slc”

• should be image of full area of

SAR scene in radar geometry
(increasing range to right,
along track down)

• may have extra “black” at

bottom due to last processing descending
patch extending past data Envisat track
 SAR Image Formation
(cont’d)
• Full resolution $date.slc in
radar geometry

• has “stretched” look due to

azimuth spacing smaller
than range spacing

• ERS & Envisat I2: azimuth

~4 m
range: 8/sin(23°)=20 m

• phase is random

• example from descending

Envisat track 170 over LA
$EndItAt “slcs”
 Image coregistration
• “raw2ampintcor.pl” moves IntDir to do
rest of processing $DoItFrom "slcs"

• “make_offset.pl” calculates 2D field of

offsets between two SLC images

• initial estimate of offsets between

scenes was calculated from orbits and
scene parameters saved in
IntDir/$date1_$date2_baseline.rsc

• initial offsets can be manually

overridden by “x_start” and “y_start” in
int.proc file
$EndItAt “offsets”
 Image coregistration
• “make_offset.pl”(cont’d)
first runs a gross matching to
refine the initial offsets from the orbits, calls
“offset.pl”

• “offset.pl” runs “ampcor” the matching program

• input: $date1-$date2_ampcor_gross.in
• output: $date1-$date2_ampcor_gross.off, .out
• “make_offset.pl” runs “fitoff” to do first order
affine transformation fit to gross offsets and cull
points that exceed 0.5 pixels from fit: $date1-
$date2_cull_gross.off, fitoff_ampcor_gross.out

• fails if initial offsets are incorrect or scenes

 Image coregistration
• “make_offset.pl”(cont’d)
takes average of gross offsets
after cull

• “make_offset.pl” next runs fine matching to

refine the offsets from gross matching, calls
“offset.pl” again

• input: $date1-$date2_ampcor.in
• output: $date1-$date2_ampcor.off, .out
• “make_offset.pl” runs “fitoff” to do first order
affine transformation fit to fine offsets and cull
points that exceed 0.08 pixels from fit: $date1-
$date2_cull.off, fitoff_ampcor.out

• occasionally fails if scenes are very different

 Image coregistration
(cont’d)
• Can look at

vs. range sample

offsets with range offset azimuth offset
“PlotOffset.
pl” (requires
xmgrace)

• e.g.,
$date1-

vs. azim. line

$date2_cull.
off

• this pair has

Bperp ~240
m
 Form Interferogram
• “raw2ampintcor.pl” calls “resamp.pl” that sets
up input and runs “resamp_roi” $DoItFrom
program "offsets

• “resamp_roi” fits a second order polynomial

function to culled offsets and uses this to
resample the “slave” $date2 SLC to coregister it
to the “master” $date1 SLC

• interferogram is formed by multiplying each

complex pixel of $date1 by complex conjugate
of $date2 pixel

• $pixel_ratio looks are taken in azimuth before

writing interferogram to complex output file
$date1-$date2.int
$EndItAt “resamp”
 Form Interferogram
• “raw” interferogram
(cont’d)
$date1-$date2.int has all
phase components
included, orbit geometry,
topography, deformation,
atmosphere, etc.

• magnitude is combination
of coherence and
backscatter

• example: Envisat D170

pair 030927-051001.int
(top left corner)

• P_BASELINE_TOP_HDR
4.66350406273572 m

• P_BASELINE_BOTTOM_HDR
 Form Interferogram
(cont’d)
• amplitudes ( sqrt(power) )
of $date1 and $date2 in
$date1-$date2.amp
interleaved by pixel

• can be displayed as
“complex” with “mdx” to
view differences in
amplitudes between
scenes

• example: Envisat D170

pair 030927-051001.int
(top left a little to the
right of corner)

• Garlock fault and Ft.

 Flatten Interferogram
$DoItFrom $DoItFrom
• ROI_pac does an initial flattening of "resamp"
the
interferogram by removing the expected phase
for the InSAR orbit geometry with a “curved
Earth” without any topography

• “raw2ampintcor.pl” creates “reference.hgt”

which is fake DEM with elevation constant at
$ref_height (default zero)

• “raw2ampintcor.pl” calls “diffnsim.pl” to

calculate and subtract phase based on
“reference.hgt” and orbit $OrbitType (e.g., PRC)
from raw interferogram to produce
“flat_PRC_$date1-$date2.int” and
“ramp_PRC_4rlks.unw” $EndItAt “flatorb”
 Flatten Interferogram
• “raw2ampintcor.pl” (cont’d)
calls
“look.pl” to take looks
(default 4) on
“flat_PRC_$date1-
$date2.int”,
“ramp_PRC.unw” and
“reference.hgt”

• flat interferogram still has

phase proportional to
elevation but “orbit
fringes” have been
removed

• example:
flat_PRC_930110-
950523_4rlks.int (from
 Flatten Interferogram
(cont’d)
• “ramp_PRC.unw” and
“ramp_PRC_4rlks.unw”
have the “orbit” phase
that was subtracted, this
is the phase due to the
baseline and baseline
changes assuming no
topography

• example:
ramp_PRC_4rlks.unw
(from ROI_pac test data)

• P_BASELINE_TOP_PRC
-45.3217489736805 m

• P_BASELINE_BOTTOM_PRC
-41.6760201631844 m
 Calculate Correlation
$DoItFrom $DoItFrom
• After the initial flattening of the interferogram,
“flatorb"
ROI_pac calculates the spatial correlation of the
phase as an estimate of the interferometric
coherence {0.0-1.0}

• “raw2ampintcor.pl” calls “make_cor.pl” which

runs “cchz_wave” to calculate the correlation on
the flattened interferogram flat_PRC_ $date1-
$date2.int and the $date1-$date2.amp using a
5 x 5 pixel triangular weighted window=>
$date1-$date2.cor with amplitude and
correlation band interleaved by line (rmg)

• The amplitude of the correlation image is the

$EndItAt
average of the amplitudes of the “full_res”
two scenes
 Correlation (cont’d)
• “raw2ampintcor.pl” calls
“look.pl” to take looks
(default 4) on “$date1-
$date2.cor”

• InSAR coherence
measures how much
radar backscatter of each
pixel changed between
scenes, but is also
affected by steep slopes if
baselines long

• example: 930110-
950523_4rlks.cor (from
ROI_pac test data)

• color wrap 1.2: blue,

ROI_pac Two-pass Processing Flow
Orbits

Condition Data Condition Data

Form SLC 1 Form SLC 2

Estimate
Tie Points

Resample Image #2
&
Form Interferogram
&
Estimate Correlation
DEM GPS

Remove (Re)Estimate
Remove Topography Baseline
Model
Filter & Look Down

Unwrap
Return Phase
Model Geocod
e Independent
Data
Post-Process
&
Model

modified from Mark Simons

 Remove Topography
$DoItFrom $DoItFrom
"full_res"

• ROI_pac does a simulation of the radar image

amplitude from a DEM and the orbit for the
master scene, and projects the elevations into
the radar coordinates of the inteferogram, then
calculates the topographic phase and subtracts
it from the original interferogram

• “process_2pass.pl” calls “dem2diff.pl” that then

calls “make_sim.pl” (if “do_sim” = “yes”) to run
simulation in “SimDir” (default “SIM”) with
“$DEM” at $Rlooks_sim looks

$EndItAt “seismic”
 Remove Topography
(cont’d)
• “make_sim.pl” first moves to SIM directory and
converts the orbit data (specified by OrbitType)
to $date1.orrm file

• Then it calls “gradient.pl” to calculate the

gradient (slope) of the DEM.dem file, creating
DEM.slp that has the dz/dx and dz/dy
interleaved by pixel (complex format)

• The DEM can be either in latitude-longitude

(LATLON, e.g., 1-arcsecond spacing) or UTM
(e.g., 30 m spacing) projection

• YSTEP negative if first DEM sample at top

• for UTM projection, specify zone (e.g., UTM10)
 Remove Topography
(cont’d)
• “make_sim.pl” sets up
and runs “IntSim” to do
the simulation in radar
geometry, producing
SIM_raw.hgt (rmg file with
amplitude and height)

• example: SIM_raw.hgt
from ROI_pac test data

• color wrap 1000 m

• note that DEM samples

are irregularly spaced in
radar coordinates,
especially on slopes
 Remove Topography
• “make_sim.pl” sets (cont’d)
up
and runs “Aik_resample”
to interpolate simulation,
producing SIM_4rlks.hgt
(rmg file with amplitude
and height)

• also takes looks to make

SIM_16rlks.hgt

• example: SIM_4rlks.hgt
from ROI_pac test data

• color wrap 1000 m

• note that this is a poor

quality pre-SRTM 3-
 Remove Topography
• “dem2diff.pl” moves to IntDir and creates
(cont’d) $DoItFrom
symbolic links to SIM_4rlks.hgt and
SIM_16rlks.hgt in SIM directory "begin_sim"

• Then it calls “synth_offset.pl” to check

coregistration between simulated image and
SAR image (using simulated amplitude and
amplitude in 4rlks.cor file)
• “synth_offset.pl” calls “offset.pl” that runs
“ampcor” to do gross matching
“ampmag_gross.off” and fine matching
(ampmag.off), similar to “make_offset.pl”
• then it runs “fitoff” to determine affine
transformation between simulation and SAR
image=> “cull.out” $EndItAt
 Remove Topography
(cont’d) $DoItFrom
"done_sim_off"
• “dem2diff.pl” calls “synth2radar.pl” to resample
simulation in exact coregistration with SAR
image using affine transform

• “synth2radar.pl” calls “find_affine.pl” to extract

affine transform parameters from “cull.out” and
puts it in date1-date2_Rlooks_sim_SIM.aff file
(e.g., “930110-950523_4rlks_SIM.aff”)

• then it calls “rect.pl” to do the resampling,

output in “radar_4rlks.hgt” (assuming
Rlooks_sim=4) should be coregistered to SAR
image
 Remove Topography
(cont’d)
• “dem2diff.pl” calls
“diffnsim.pl” to calculate
phase due to topography on
curved Earth with orbit
$OrbitType and subtracts it
from original interferogram,
producing output at
$Rlooks_sim resolution

• example: 930110-950523-
sim_PRC_4rlks.int (from
ROI_pac test data)

• amplitude is still
interferogram amplitude
that includes coherence
 Remove Topography
(cont’d)
• “diffnsim.pl” also writes out
the phase due to topography
on curved Earth with orbit
$OrbitType that was
subtracted (rmg file)

• example:
radar_PRC_4rlks.unw (from
ROI_pac test data)

• amplitude is simulated
amplitude

• phase usually dominated by

“orbit” phase
$EndItAt
 Remove Topography
(cont’d)
• “process_2pass.pl” finally
takes optional looks on
outputs of “dem2diff.pl” to
change from Rlooks_sim to
Rlooks_unw if the latter is
more looks
• this is called the “seismic”
step because earthquakes
should be clear at this point
• example: 031203-040211-
sim_HDR_8rlks.int (Envisat
pair from 2003 Bam, Iran
earthquake)

$EndItAt “seismic”
ROI_pac Two-pass Processing Flow
Orbits

Condition Data Condition Data

Form SLC 1 Form SLC 2

Estimate
Tie Points

Resample Image #2
&
Form Interferogram
&
Estimate Correlation
DEM GPS

Remove (Re)Estimate
Remove Topography Baseline
Model
Filter & Look Down

Unwrap
Return Phase
Model Geocod
e Independent
Data
Post-Process
&
Model

modified from Mark Simons

 Remove Model
$DoItFrom
“seismic"

• “process_2pass.pl” checks the MODEL

parameter, which can include CO_MODEL
(coseismic models) and INTER_MODEL
(interseismic models)
• Models are in original DEM coordinates, but
can be at coarser resolution
• Models are projected into SAR geometry and
subtracted from the “seismic” interferogram
at the Rlooks_unw resolution

$EndItAt “begin_filt”
 Filtering interferogram
$DoItFrom
“begin_filt"
• “process_2pass.pl” calls
“int2filtmaskunwrap.pl” to do filtering,
masking and unwrapping
• Filtering is done differently depending on
unwrapping method (unw_method)
• For “classic” unwrapping (unw_method =
“old”, the default), filtering is done by
“filter.pl” before masking
• When unwrapping with “icu” (unw_method
= “icu”), the filtering is done inside “icu”
$EndItAt “done_filt”
 Filtering interferogram
(cont’d)
• “int2filtmaskunwrap.pl” calls “filter.pl”
filtering based on “Filt_method” which is
to do

either “psfilt” (default) or “adapt_filt”

• “filter.pl” first runs power spectrum filtering
(Goldstein and Werner, 1998, GRL) with the
power spectrum exponent specified by
“FilterStrength” (default 0.75)
• if “Filt_method” = “adapt_filt” then “filter.pl”
calls “adapt_filt.pl” to run an additional
filtering (sometimes useful with very noisy
data, usually ugly)
• there is also a way to run a simple boxcar
filter with “lowpass.pl” but this is not in the
Goldstein, R.M., and Werner, C.L., 1998, Radar interferogram filtering for geophysical 
regular workflow
applications: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 25, p. 4035­4038.
applications: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 25, p. 4035­4038.
 Filtering interferogram
(cont’d)
• after running filter(s)
“filter.pl” replaces the
amplitude of the result
“filt_date1-date2-
sim_{OrbitType}_{Rlooks_u
nw}rlks.int” (which is
heavily blurred by the
filtering) with the average
SAR amplitude from the
“.cor” file
• example: filt_930110-
950523-sim_PRC_4rlks.int
(from ROI_pac test data,
default FilterStrength=0.75)
$EndItAt “done_filt”
 Masking interferogram
$DoItFrom
• “int2filtmaskunwrap.pl” calls “done_filt"
“make_mask.pl” to make a mask for area of
interferogram to unwrap (only done with
classic unwrapping “unw_method” = “old”)
• “make_mask.pl” calls “phase_slope” (which
removes local phase slope) and
“phase_mask” programs which make a
mask based on the local phase variance (to
remove areas of low coherence)
• then “make_mask.pl” calls “int_thr” to make
a mask based on the amplitude
“Threshold_mag” (default 5.0e-5), which
cuts out dark edges of interferogram, and
$EndItAt
combines this with coherence mask
 Masking interferogram
(cont’d)
• “phase_mask” program
calculates phase variance
from filtered & slope-
removed interferogram so
effective coherence is
greatly increased

• “phase_mask” applies phase

variance threshold
“sigma_thresh” (default 1.0),
converts it to an effective
coherence and writes out
phase_var_PRC_4rlks.msk

• example: low
phase_var_PRC_4rlks.msk coherence
(from ROI_pac test data with set to zero
defaults)
 Masking interferogram
(cont’d)
• “make_mask.pl” combines
low amplitude mask with
coherence mask to make
“low_cor_PRC_4rlks.msk”

• example:
low_cor_PRC_4rlks.msk (from
ROI_pac test data with low
defaults)
amplitude set
• color wrap 1.2: masked to zero
coherence cyan, low
magenta, high yellow and
green
$EndItAt
“make_mask”
 Unwrapping
$DoItFrom “
make_mask"
• For the classic phase unwrapping
(“unw_method” = “old”),
“int2filtmaskunwrap.pl” first calls
“new_cut.pl” to do the first steps (see
Goldstein, Zebker and Werner, 1988;
GZW88 for short)
• then “int2filtmaskunwrap.pl” calls
“unwrap.pl” to complete the unwrapping
with output in “filt_$date1-$date2-
sim_$OrbitType_$Rlooks_unw_c$Unwrapped
Threshold.unw”
Goldstein, R.M., Zebker, H.A., and Werner, C.L., 1988, 
Satellite radar interferometry—two­dimensional phase 
unwrapping: Radio Science, v. 23, p. 713–720. $EndItAt
 Unwrapping (cont’d)
• “new_cut.pl” calls “residue”
program to calculates phase
residues from filtered & slope-
removed interferogram (see
GZW88)
• residues are stored in “filt_$date1-
$date2-
sim_$OrbitType_${Rlooks_unw}rlks_
cut.flg”
• Then it calls “trees” to draw phase
cuts to connect the residues (see
GZW88)
 Unwrapping (cont’d)
• “unwrap.pl” calls “corr_flag”
program to combine the
unwrapping mask with the
phase cut trees, optionally
applying a higher coherence
threshold
“UnwrappedThreshold”
(default 0.1), output is new
flag file filt_$date1-$date2-
sim_$OrbitType_${Rlooks_un
w}rlks_c{10*UnwrappedThre
shold}.flg

• example: filt_930110-
950523- low coherence
sim_PRC_4rlks_c10.flg (from flagged to not
ROI_pac test data with unwrap
defaults)
 Unwrapping (cont’d)
• “unwrap.pl” calls “grass” to
unwrap the filtered
interferogram phase
between the trees of phase
cuts, using the mask and
starting at the “seed” which
is defined as zero phase
(see GZW88)

• seed default location is

center of image, can be
changed with “unw_seedx”
and “unw_seedy”

• example: filt_930110-
950523-
sim_PRC_4rlks_c10.unw
(from ROI_pac test data
with defaults)
$EndItAt
 Unwrapping
• Alternative (cont’d)
unwrapping method “unw_method” =
“icu” does approximately the same steps as the
classic method of GZW88, but does it all in one
program
• “int2filtunw.pl” calls “icu.pl” that sets up and runs
“icu” program, putting output in “filt_$date1-
$date2-
sim_$OrbitType_${Rlooks_unw}rlks_c{10*Unwrappe
dThreshold}.unw”

• The “icu” program does the unwrapping in

patches, so it can work on very large images that
won’t unwrap with classic programs, and it has
additional techniques such as guiding centers for
branch cuts
 Unwrapping (cont’d)

• Another option is to use SNAPHU (Chen and

Zebker, 2002), not included with ROI_pac but
available from Stanford website
• SNAPHU unwraps everything, even where low (or
no!)coherence
• “snaphu.pl” script can setup input file and run
SNAPHU (will be in ROI_pac 3.0.1 release)

Chen, C.W., and Zebker, H.A., 2002, Phase unwrapping for large SAR interferograms: 
statistical segmentation and generalized network models: Geoscience and Remote 
Sensing, IEEE Transactions on,, v. 40, p. 1709­1719.
ROI_pac Two-pass Processing Flow
Orbits

Condition Data Condition Data

Form SLC 1 Form SLC 2

Estimate
Tie Points

Resample Image #2
&
Form Interferogram
&
Estimate Correlation
DEM GPS

Remove (Re)Estimate
Remove Topography Baseline
Model
Filter & Look Down

Unwrap
Return Phase
Model Geocod
e Independent
Data
Post-Process
&
Model

modified from Mark Simons

 Baseline re-estimation
$DoItFrom
• Default “flattening” is “orbit” where the
“unwrapped"
baseline calculated from the orbits is used
for the final products
• If “flattening” is “topo” then the unwrapped
phase and the topography in the radar
coordinates are used to refine the baseline
length
• “process_2pass.pl” sets up files and calls
“phase2base.pl” to estimate new “SIM”
baseline
• “phase2base.pl” calls “baseest” estimate
new “SIM” baseline and stores result in
$date1-$date2_baseline.rsc $EndItAt “redo_base”
 Applying new baseline
$DoItFrom
“redo_base"

• “process_2pass.pl” calls “diffnsim.pl” again

with new “SIM” baseline to subtract the
phase due to the orbit and topography
• “phase2base.pl” calls “baseest” estimate
new “SIM” baseline and stores result in
$date1-$date2_baseline.rsc

$EndItAt
 Applying new baseline
(cont’d)
• “phase2base.pl” calls
“baseest” estimate new
“SIM” baseline and stores
result in $date1-
$date2_baseline.rsc

• example: filt_930110-
950523-
sim_SIM_4rlks_c10.unw
(from ROI_pac test data
with defaults)

• color wrap: 11.4 radians =

5 cm for C-band

$EndItAt
 Baseline comparison
H_BASELINE_TOP_PRC
-23.2574447955833
H_BASELINE_RATE_PRC
5.10819932458847e-05

H_BASELINE_ACC_PRC
-5.04549375622103e-14

V_BASELINE_TOP_PRC
-80.7294227073118
V_BASELINE_RATE_PRC
1.82195903986372e-05

V_BASELINE_ACC_PRC
filt_930110-950523-sim_PRC_4rlks_c10.u
7.32779258057696e-13
H_BASELINE_TOP_SIM
-21.932151167651199
H_BASELINE_RATE_SIM
5.33480998801241687E-005

H_BASELINE_ACC_SIM
3.20592780130720777E-011
V_BASELINE_TOP_SIM
-80.302032316584373
V_BASELINE_RATE_SIM
1.76683134812624133E-005
V_BASELINE_ACC_SIM
-1.78627637125082563E-011
filt_930110-950523-sim_SIM_4rlks_c10.u
ROI_pac Two-pass Processing Flow
Orbits

Condition Data Condition Data

Form SLC 1 Form SLC 2

Estimate
Tie Points

Resample Image #2
&
Form Interferogram
&
Estimate Correlation
DEM GPS

Remove (Re)Estimate
Remove Topography Baseline
Model
Filter & Look Down

Unwrap
Return Phase
Model Geocod
e Independent
Data
Post-Process
&
Model

modified from Mark Simons

 Geocoding $DoItFrom
“unwrapped" or
• “process_2pass.pl” calls “radar2geo.pl” to
“unwrapped_bsim”
geocode final unwrapped phase from radar
coordinates to geographic coordinates
(same as used in DEM)
• geocoded result usually a subset of DEM
area, but has same grid spacing and is
shifted by an integer number of DEM pixels
• if coseismic or interseismic model was
subtracted previously (if “MODEL” not
“NULL”), then “process_2pass.pl” calls
“geomodel.pl” to add back the model or
models to the unwrapped phase and the
result is geocoded $EndItAt “done”
 Geocoding (cont’d)

• “radar2geo.pl” calls “make_geomap.pl” to create the

geocoding transformation lookup file
“geomap_{Rlooks_unw}rlks.trans”
• “make_geomap.pl” moves to “GeoDir” and runs “IntSim”
with the inverse of the affine transform from the simulation
to the radar
• example: geomap_4rlks.trans (from ROI_pac test data with
defaults)
 Geocoding (cont’d)

• final geocoded interferogram amplitude is zero where not

unwrapped or outside interferogram
• example: geo_930110-950523.unw (from ROI_pac test data
with defaults)
• color wrap: 11.4 radians = 5 cm
$EndItAt “done”