Calibration of a polarimetric radar using a rotatable dihedralcorner reflector

Based on the existing mathematical formalisms of radar polarimetry, it is necessary to perform accurate and diversified polarimetric measurements in the real world to thoroughly investigate signature definition, identification, and classification of radar targets. For this study the Delft Atmospheric Research Radar (DARR) is used. This ground-based polarimetric FM-CW radar operates in the S-band. The purpose of the present paper is the polarimetric calibration of the DARR. Among the passive reflectors, a rotatable dihedral corner reflector is a suitable calibration object. It enables one to measure different scattering matrices with only one reflector. One alignment must be performed and the scattering matrices are measured at the same range. By measuring several scattering matrices, the accuracy of the calibration result can be estimated. A measurement campaign with a rotatable dihedral corner reflector was therefore performed. The experimental results and the calibration procedure are presented in this paper     

利用点目标进行SAR辐射定标的方法研究

SAR辐射定标是一项关联图像像素值和地物后向散射系数的重要工作。由于角反射器具有稳定、大的散射截面积和在较宽的角度范围内散射截面积变化较小,因而成为重要的点目标定标器。研究利用已知散射截面积的三面体角反射器来计算不同地物的后向散射系数、系统定标常数和系统总的传递函数的方法,并通过大量实测SAR数据进行了定标实验。理论分析和实验结果表明,利用点目标进行SAR辐射定标具有简单、实用、精度较高的优点。     

Optimum corner reflectors for calibration of imaging radars

Trihedral corner reflectors are widely used as calibration targets for imaging radars because of their large radar cross section (RCS) and extremely wide RCS pattern. An important source of uncertainty in the RCS of a trihedral sitting on a ground plane is the coherent interaction of the ground plane with the trihedral. At UHF and low microwave frequencies the large physical size of corner reflectors become a limiting factor in regard to difficulties in field deployment and deviation of their RCS from the expected values. In this paper, a general class of corner reflectors with high-aperture efficiency referred to as self-illuminating corner reflectors, is introduced whose coherent interaction with the surrounding terrain is minimized and their total surface area is two-thirds of that of a triangular corner reflector having the same maximum RCS. Analytical expressions based on geometrical optics and a new numerical solution based on near-field physical optics for the RCS of two simple self-illuminating corner reflectors are presented and compared with backscatter measurements. Also the panel geometry for an optimum corner reflector which has the shortest edge length among polygonal self-illuminating corner reflectors is obtained. High-aperture efficiency is achieved at the expense of azimuth and elevation beamwidth. It is shown that the 1-dB RCS beamwidths of the optimal corner reflectors, both in azimuth and elevation directions, are about 16°. RCS measurements of corner reflectors in the presence of a ground plane show that the RCS of self-illuminating corner reflectors are less affected by the coherent ground interaction     

Direction differentiating cluster reflector for marine/airnavigation

A cluster reflector formed by a perfect electric conductor coated trihedral corner reflector, and soft and hard surface coated triangular trihedral corner reflectors, can be used in marine/air navigation. The cluster reflector scatters back circularly polarised waves of one or the other bandedness depending on which reflector is illuminated     

On the calibration of the helicopter borne polarimetric radar René

The cetp and Thomson- csf have developed in 1992 a new polarimetric fm/cw X- band radar which has been designed to be easily mounted on small helicopter or aircraft. As it is devoted to research investigations on radar polarimetry applied to land and vegetation remote sensing, it needs to be calibrated in phase and amplitude with a very good accuracy. A calibration procedure using trihedral and dihedral corner reflectors is presented here and then compared to the calibration method using random distributed targets that has been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A very good agreement between both methods enables us to apply our calibration algorithms to natural surfaces measurements at different incidence angles (20°, 40° and 50°.     

Depolarizing trihedral corner reflectors for radar navigation andremote sensing

A conventional trihedral corner reflector can be modified to present either a twist-polarizing or a circularly polarizing response by adding conducting fins of rectangular corrugations of prescribed dimensions and orientation to one of its interior surfaces. Since the modified reflector retains most of the mechanical ruggedness and ease of manufacture of the original, it is suitable for deployment in the field for extended periods as required in radar navigation and remote sensing applications. For most directions of incidence the response of the reflector is dominated by triple-bounce reflections from the interior and is a function of the size and shape of the reflecting panels, the dimensions of the corrugations, and the orientation of the reflector with respect to the radar. Experimental results show that prototype twist-polarizing and circularly polarizing reflectors respond as predicted     

基于极化分解的舰船和角反射器鉴别方法

使用角反射器是舰船电子对抗中常用的一种无源干扰方式,它在时域、频域和空域上与舰船的雷达回波都没有显著差异,因此传统单极化雷达很难有效鉴别舰船和角反射器。分析了舰船和角反射器在极化回波上的特性差异,并基于Krogager极化分解提取了单频点和多频点情况下的特征矢量,通过支持矢量机对舰船和角反射器进行了鉴别。电磁计算数据表明：该方法可以较好地对二者进行鉴别,且对单角反射器和阵列角反射器都有效,为解决舰船和角反射器的鉴别问题提供了一个可行的思路。     

一种角反射体雷达散射截面积的高频预估算法

几何光学/区域投影(Geometrical Optics/Area Projection, GO/AP)法是一种综合利用GO和AP进行电大尺寸目标单站雷达散射截面积(Radar Cross Section, RCS)预估的高频混合算法.文章推导建立了利用GO/AP法进行RCS预估的通用流程, 计算出不同入射方向下三角形三面角反射RCS的完整表达式; 将其与RCS最大值的经验公式以及FEKO软件的仿真结果进行对比, 验证了GO/AP法的可行性; 在边界入射方向对GO/AP算法进行改进, 进一步拓宽了GO/AP法对观察角的适应范围.     

Radar cross section of trihedral corner reflectors using PO and MEC

Physical optics (po) and the method of equivalent currents (mec) are used for the formulation and calculation of the backscatter cross section of both the triangular and square trihedral corner reflectors. Scattering from a trihedral corner reflector is dominated by single, double, and triple reflections by the interior walls. A physical optics integration is performed on the entire surface of each plate for the evaluation of the singly reflected fields. Doubly and triply reflected fields are evaluated by first using geometrical optics (go) at initial reflections to calculate the incident plane wave on the plate where the last reflection occurs. Physical optics is then applied on the illuminated area of that plate. First-order diffractions, which are based on the fringe current expressions for the exterior edges of the trihedral, are also included in the analysis. Predictions compare very well with both experimental and fdtd data.     

Performance characterization of polarimetric active radarcalibrators and a new single antenna design

Several topics associated with the use of a polarimetric active radar calibrator (PARC), which is a high radar-cross-section transponder with a known scattering matrix, are addressed. The first involves experimental measurements of the magnitudes and phases of the scattering-matrix elements of a pair of PARCs that operate at 1.25 GHz and 5.3 GHz. The measurements were conducted over a wide range of incidence angles (relative to the boresight direction) in the azimuth, elevation, 45°, and 135° planes. The 5.3-GHz PARC, which consisted of two antennas placed several wavelengths apart, exhibited symmetrical patterns with no ripples and excellent isolation between orthogonal polarization channels. The 1.25-GHz PARC, whose antennas were in very close proximity to one another, exhibited unsymmetrical patterns as well as ripples in the phase patterns, thereby introducing errors in the elements of the scattering matrix. To avoid this problem, a single-antenna PARC is designed,, using an orthomode transducer. The single-target calibration technique is extended so that it applies to the use of a PARC as well as reciprocal passive calibration devices such as spheres and trihedral corner reflectors     

强散射体的RCS分析

用简单的强散射体制作简易的目标模拟体．以较小的反射体模拟散射较强、体积较大的目标可以有效地提高目标的生存能力,达到伪装、迷惑的目的．常见的强散射体有二面角反射体、三面角反射体等,采用矩量法计算它们的RCS,通过分析、比较和计算结果来选择合适的强散射体．     

RCS analysis and reduction for lossy dihedral corner reflectors

The radar cross-section patterns of lossy dihedral corner reflectors are calculated using a uniform geometrical theory of diffraction for impedance surfaces. All terms of up to third order reflections and diffractions are considered for patterns in the principal plane. The surface waves are included whenever they exist for reactive surface impedances. The dihedral corner reflectors examined have right, obtuse, and acute interior angles, and patterns over the entire 360° azimuthal plane are calculated. The surface impedances can be different on the four faces of the dihedral corner reflector; however, the surface impedance must be uniform over each face. Computed cross sections are compared with a moment method technique for a dielectric/ferrite absorber coating on a metallic corner reflector. The analysis of the dihedral corner reflector is important because it demonstrates many of the important scattering contributors of complex targets including both interior and exterior wedge diffraction, half-plane diffraction, and dominant multiple reflections and diffractions     

Development of a ground-based radar for scattering measurements

A ground-based C-band scatterometer system has been constructed at the Multimedia University, Malaysia. This is an inexpensive FM-CW radar that was efficiently constructed from a combination of commercially available components and in-house fabricated circuitry. The system has full polarimetric capability for determining the complete backscattering matrix of a natural target. It will be used to conduct in-situ backscatter measurements on Earth terrain, such as vegetation fields, forests, and soil surfaces. This paper presents the system design and the evaluation results of the scatterometer system. The system was tested at a football field. A metal sphere was used as the calibration target. The backscattering matrices of an 8" trihedral corner reflector and of a 4" /spl times/ 8" dihedral corner reflector were measured. The dihedral was rotated at different angles to provide different sets of polarimetric data. The results were compared with the theoretical values to verify the effectiveness of the calibration technique. The external calibration and internal calibration procedures, as well as the approach used in measuring the relative phase response, are discussed.     

扩展底面角反射体RCS特性分析及其应用

三角形角反射体用于海面靶标中,存在一些问题:在低俯仰角情况下,其RCS特性易受海面环境的影响,RCS值显著下降。针对这些问题,分析了底面无限扩展的三角形角反射体的RCS特性,给出了相应的几何光学计算公式,公式应用到扩展底面角反射体中,将其计算结果与标准角反射体进行了比较,结果表明扩展底面角反射体在低俯仰角情况下,能够增强目标的RCS值。在低弹道导弹试验任务中,可以考虑采用扩展底面角反射体来替换标准角反射体。     

Dual-channel and multifrequency radar system calibration

Uncertainty in absolute gain and crosstalk factors are the primary sources of error in dual-channel radar measurements. A full two-port calibration technique compensates for the errors introduced due to an imperfect antenna system and improves the isolation between orthogonal polarization channels as long as the observed cross section is above the equivalent system noise cross section. A novel technique for calibrating a dual-polarized network analyzer-based scatterometer system is discussed. Rigorous two-port S-parameter representation is used to describe absolute gain and crosstalk characteristics. Validity of the crosstalk correction is demonstrated by measuring the point target scattering matrix. Correction factors are obtained by measuring the S-parameters of trihedral and dihedral corner reflectors of known sizes. Results of absolute gain of the antenna system are verified using independent test target cross section measurements     

A calibration technique for polarimetric coherent-on-receive radarsystems

A new technique for calibrating a coherent-on-receive polarimetric radar system is proposed. A coherent-on-receive polarimetric radar is capable of measuring the Mueller matrix of point or distributed targets directly by transmitting at least four independent polarizations and measuring the vertical and horizontal components of the backscatter signal simultaneously. The technique requires the use of two calibration targets, a target with known scattering matrix (such as a metallic sphere or a trihedral corner reflector) and any depolarizing target (for which knowledge of its scattering matrix is not required) to determine the system distortion parameters. The system distortion parameters, which include the channel imbalances, the cross-talk factors of both the transmit and the receive antennas, and the phase shifts and amplitude variations of the transmitter polarizers, are determined by measuring the calibration targets for four different transmit polarizations. The validity of the new calibration technique is examined by measuring the scattering matrices of spheres and cylinders as test targets using a coherent-on-receive radar operating at 34.5 GHz. Excellent agreement between the theoretical and the measured scattering matrices for the test targets are obtained     

Calibration of a polarimetric imaging SAR

Calibration using point targets is discussed. The fourport network calibration technique is used to describe the radar error model. The processor ambiguity function and the radar distortion matrices are combined to form a generalized polarimetric ambiguity function. The polarimetric ambiguity function of the SAR is found using a single point target, namely a trihedral corner reflector. Based on the resultant polarimetric ambiguity function, an estimate for the backscattering coefficient of the terrain is found using a modified version of the single target calibration technique (STCT). A radar image recorded by the JPL aircraft SAR, which includes a variety of point targets, is used for verification of the new calibration method. The calibrated responses of the point targets are compared both with theory and responses based on the POLCAL technique     

基于极化定标的极化隔离度空变分析

极化定标是多极化合成孔径雷达(PolSAR)系统获取真实目标极化散射矩阵的必要步骤。文中针对极化定标过程中存在的极化隔离度距离向空变特性,采用基于无源角反射器的极化定标算法作为仿真工具,对PolSAR系统极化隔离度绝对值及其空变范围对图像中极化隔离度的影响规律进行了分析。分析结果表明:当用于极化修正的极化误差矩阵与PolSAR系统自身极化隔离度不匹配时,极化修正将会使得修正后的图像极化隔离度变差。因此,在进行极化定标时,应当尽可能在定标场沿距离向布设一定间距的多组定标器,从而获取PolSAR系统在整个距离向成像带宽内的极化隔离度拟合曲线,在进行极化修正时对图像中距离向不同的像素点采用曲线中对应位置的极化误差矩阵进行修正,进而得到尽可能接近目标真实极化散射矩阵的估计值。     

Calibration of the CCRS airborne scatterometers

A series of experiments and associated analyses which were designed to lead to an end-to-end calibration of the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) fanbeam scatterometers are described. The method followed was originally introduced in 1984 by A. Yizhar et al. for the Ku-band scatterometer at one incidence angle. This work was extended to yield a full calibration for the Ku-band and C -band scatterometers over the complete range of incidence angles accessible to the instruments. An array of 12 trihedral corner reflectors was deployed in a grassy field near Ottawa. The CCRS CV-580, equipped with two scatterometers, repeatedly overflew the array collecting radar replicas of the targets proportional to the unknown two-dimensional antenna pattern. Data from inertial navigation systems and aerial photographs from a Wild RC-10 mapping camera were used to determine the exact track of the aircraft during the acquisition. This data, with a field survey, alloyed the reduction of the scatterometer data from the reflector array to yield the unknown antenna pattern of the instruments. The cross-polarized antenna patterns were then deduced from the like-polarized results. The results show consistency within 0.5 dB and overall calibration accuracy is estimated to be better than 1 dB     

基于时域的低频UWB SAR辐射校正

低频UWB SAR系统校准的关键问题是获得定标体精确的散射特性和建立合适的信息处理模型。本文利用MOM和渐近波形估计（AWE）方法得到随频率和方位角变化的角反射器RCS,建立了基于时域聚焦算法的校正模型,最后利用计算机仿真验证了该方法的有效性。