volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Currently, most full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems adopt linear polarization (LP). On the other hand, circular polarization (CP) is also becoming popular due to its various benefits over LP. However, since CP-SAR is an emerging technique, there are not many imaging and polarimetric analysis results in the literature. As a fundamental study on CP-SAR, this paper presents the results of an investigation on the CP properties of ground-based SAR (GB-SAR) echoes from various canonical targets and a rice paddy sample. The C-band data acquired in a laboratory environment are analyzed and interpreted by means of several factors such as calibration performance, experimental verification of theoretical scattering matrices, imaging quality and accuracy of scattering decomposition results. The eigenvector-based decomposition of the coherency matrix is adopted, and the performance of CP in retrieving the targets' dominant scattering mechanisms and physical parameters is evaluated from entropy-alpha (H-α) plane and orientation angle (β) value. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of CP in interpreting and discriminating the SAR image features mainly owing to its distinct advantage of highly reliable received signal strength.

1. Kankaku, Y., Y. Osawa, S. Suzuki, and T. Watanabe, "The overview of the L band SAR onboard ALOS-2," PIERS Proceedings, 735-738, Moscow, Russia, August 18–21, 2009.

2. Morena, C. L., K. V. James, and J. Beck, "An introduction to the RADARSAT-2 mission," Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 30, No. 3, 221-234, 2004.
doi:10.5589/m04-004

3. Werninghaus, R. and S. Buckreuss, "The TerraSAR-X mission and system design," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 48, No. 2, 606-614, 2010.
doi:10.1109/TGRS.2009.2031062

4. Sri Sumantyo, J. T. and N. Imura, "Development of circularly polarized synthetic aperture radar for aircraft and microsatellite," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Beijing, China, 2016.

5. Akbar, P. R., J. T. Sri Sumantyo, and H. Kuze, "A novel circularly polarized synthetic aperture radar (CP-SAR) system onboard a spaceborne platform," International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 31, No. 4, 1053-1060, 2009.
doi:10.1080/01431160903156528

6. Touzi, R. and C. Franois, "Requirements on the calibration of hybrid-compact SAR," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 1109-1112, Quebec City, QC, July 2014.

7. Freeman, A., "Calibration of linearly polarized polarimetric SAR data subject to Faraday rotation," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 42, No. 8, 1617-1624, 2004.
doi:10.1109/TGRS.2004.830161

8. Wright, P. A., S. Quegan, N. S. Wheadon, and C. D. Hall, "Faraday rotation effects on L band spaceborne SAR data," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 41, No. 12, 2735-2744, 2003.
doi:10.1109/TGRS.2003.815399

9. ITU Handbook on Satellite Communication, Wiley, New York, 2002.

10. Warren, L. S., Polarization in Electromagnetic Systems, Artech House, Boston, 1993.

11. Sheen, D. M., D. L. McMakin, W. M. Lechelt, and J. W. Griffin, "Circularly polarized millimeterwave imaging for personnel screening," Proceedings of the SPIE — International Society for Optical Engineering, 117-126, Florida, USA, 2005.

12. Campbell, B. A., "Planetary geology with imaging radar: Insights from earth-based lunar studies," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 128, No. 964, 2001-2015, 2016.
doi:10.1088/1538-3873/128/964/062001

13. Gao, S., Q. Luo, and F. Zhu, Circularly Polarized Antennas, John Wiley and Sons, West Sussex, 2013.

14. Yamaguchi, Y., Radar Polarimetry from Basics to Applications: Radar Remote Sensing Using Polarimetric Information, IEICE, Tokyo, 2007.

15. Cloude, S. R. and E. Pottier, "An entropy based classification scheme for land applications of polarimetric SAR," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 35, No. 1, 68-78, 1997.
doi:10.1109/36.551935

16. Raney, R. K., "Hybrid-polarity SAR architecture," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 45, No. 11, 3397-3404, 2007.
doi:10.1109/TGRS.2007.895883

17. Wiesbeck, W. and D. Kahny, "Single reference, three target calibration and error correction for monostatic, polarimetric free space measurements," Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 79, No. 10, 1551-1558, 1991.
doi:10.1109/5.104229

18. Yueh, S. H., J. A. Kong, R. M. Barnes, and R. T. Shin, "Calibration of polarimetric radars using in-scene reflectors," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 4, No. 1, 27-48, 2012.
doi:10.1163/156939390X00438

19. Gau, J. R. and W. D. Burnside, "New polarimetric calibration technique using a single calibration dihedral," IEE Proceedings — Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 142, No. 1, 19-25, 1995.
doi:10.1049/ip-map:19951544

20. Chen, T. J., T. H. Chu, and F. C. Chen, "A new calibration algorithm of wide-band polarimetric measurement system," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 39, No. 8, 1188-1192, 1991.
doi:10.1109/8.97354

21. Izumi, Y., S. Demirci, M. Z. Baharuddin, and J. T. Sri Sumantyo, "The polarimetric calibration method for ground-based circularly polarized synthetic aperture radar," PIERS Proceedings, 5131-5135, Shanghai, China, August 8–11, 2016.

22. Mehrdad, S., Synthetic Aperture Radar Signal Processing with MATLAB Algorithms, Wiley, New York, 1999.

23. Wang, C., J. Wu, Y. Zhang, G. Pan, J. Qi, and W. A. Salas, "Characterizing L-band scattering of paddy rice in Southeast China with radiative transfer model and multitemporal ALOS/PALSAR imagery," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 47, No. 4, 988-998, 2009.
doi:10.1109/TGRS.2008.2008309

Dr. Yuta Izumi

Dr. Sevket Demirci

Dr. Mohd Zafri Baharuddin

Prof. Josaphat Tetuko Sri Sumantyo

Dr. Heein Yang