SAR image compression based on multiwavelet transform

In the real domain, the finitely supported, orthogonal, symmetric nontrivial scalar wavelet bases do not exist, while the multiwavelet offers the finite support, symmetry, orthogonality simultaneously. As a result, the wavelet theory is extended to vector field. A technique for compressing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data using multiwavelet transform and prefilter methods is considered. The experiment results show that we can get comparative or superior performance after replacing the wavelet by multiwavelet using modified set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm designed for wavelet. So combining with the characteristic of multiwavelet coefficients and designing corresponding coding method, multiwavelet transform is of great potential for SAR image compression application.