Asymptotically efficient estimators for the K-distribution

The K-distribution is an important probability distribution to describe the radar reflectivity of ground clutter in SAR images. One of the main tasks is to find reliable estimates of the two parameters that determine the K-distribution. Several moment estimators are described. The order of convergence of these estimators is Op(1/N(exp 1/2)). A possibility to calculate corrected estimator sequences which are asymptotically efficient is presented. Random fields with K-distributed marginals are simulated to compare the moment estimators with the pertinent corrected estimators.