Backscattering properties of boreal forests at the C- and X-bands

The backscattering properties of boreal forests are studied using empirical airborne and spaceborne radar data from Finland. Airborne measurements were carried out in the summer of 1992 by the HUTSCAT scatterometer at the Teijo test area in southern Finland. The HUTSCAT scatterometer is an eight-channel helicopter-borne profiling radar operating at the C- and X-bands. The ranging capability of the HUTSCAT scatterometer was employed in the semiempirical modeling of forest backscatter. The backscatter profile information was used in the analysis of the canopy transmissivity and the canopy backscattering coefficient by distinguishing backscattering contributions from the canopy and the ground. Additionally, ERS-1 C-band satellite SAR measurements were obtained for the Teijo test area and for the reference test area in Sodankyla in northern Finland. The radar results were compared with operational ground-based forest assessment data on forest compartments (stands) of the area. The key parameter investigated was the stem (bole) volume per hectare. The results obtained show the behavior of the canopy transmissivity and the canopy backscatter as a function of stem volume (directly related to the forest biomass). The influence of seasonal and diurnal changes on, and the effects of the changes in soil moisture to the backscattering coefficient were also investigated     

A helicopter-borne eight-channel ranging scatterometer for remotesensing. II. Forest inventory

For pt.I see ibid., vol.31, no.1, p.161-9 (1993). Forest inventory methods based on data acquired with an airborne ranging radar are discussed. The approach can be used to partly automate present labor-dominated forest inventory methods. Using these methods, the mean and dominant tree height can be measured with a standard deviation of 1 m. The stem volume per hectare can be estimated with a relative accuracy of 15% by effectively counting the height distribution of the trees and by calculating the center of backscattered power from the forest canopy profile for a stand with a diameter of 40 m. The methods have been developed using a helicopter-borne eight-channel ranging scatterometer, HUTSCAT, which can measure a radar forest canopy profile with a range resolution of 65 cm     

A Bayesian classification model for sea ice roughness fromscatterometer data

For sea ice in the Baltic Sea, surface scattering can be regarded as the dominant scattering mechanism at C-band. In this paper, a new statistical method is introduced for making statistical inferences about the underlying ice surface roughness on the basis of one-dimensional (1D) scatterometer data y. The central parameter in the hierarchical model applied in the context is a mixture parameter p, which indicates the degree of surface roughness in ice surface. Several questions related to the occurrence of different ice classes on a transect can be solved with the aid of the posterior distribution [p|y]. An empirical approximation for the posterior distribution is computed by using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methodology. The efficiency of the suggested approach is investigated by analyzing a C-band HH-polarization helicopter-borne HUTSCAT scatterometer data. The results provided by the statistical model show good agreement with a video-based ice type classification     

An emissivity-based wind vector retrieval algorithm for the WindSat polarimetric radiometer

The Naval Research Laboratory WindSat polarimetric radiometer was launched on January 6, 2003 and is the first fully polarimetric radiometer to be flown in space. WindSat has three fully polarimetric channels at 10.7, 18.7, and 37.0 GHz and vertically and horizontally polarized channels at 6.8 and 23.8 GHz. A first-generation wind vector retrieval algorithm for the WindSat polarimetric radiometer is developed in this study. An atmospheric clearing algorithm is used to estimate the surface emissivity from the measured WindSat brightness temperature at each channel. A specular correction factor is introduced in the radiative transfer equation to account for excess reflected atmospheric brightness, compared to the specular assumption, as a function wind speed. An empirical geophysical model function relating the surface emissivity to the wind vector is derived using coincident QuikSCAT scatterometer wind vector measurements. The confidence in the derived harmonics for the polarimetric channels is high and should be considered suitable to validate analytical surface scattering models for polarized ocean surface emission. The performance of the retrieval algorithm is assessed with comparisons to Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) wind vector outputs. The root mean square (RMS) uncertainty of the closest wind direction ambiguity is less than 20/spl deg/ for wind speeds greater than 6 m/s and less than 15/spl deg/ at 10 m/s and greater. The retrieval skill, the percentage of retrievals in which the first-rank solution is the closest to the GDAS reference, is 75% at 7 m/s and 85% or higher above 10 m/s. The wind speed is retrieved with an RMS uncertainty of 1.5 m/s.     

Polarimetric radar remote sensing of ocean surface wind

Experimental data are presented to support the development of a new concept for ocean wind velocity measurement (speed and direction) with the polarimetric microwave radar technology. This new concept has strong potential for improving the wind direction accuracy and extending the useful swath width by up to 30% for follow-on NASA spaceborne scatterometer mission to SeaWinds series. The key issue is whether there is a relationship between the polarization state of ocean backscatter and surface wind velocity at NASA scatterometer frequencies (13 GHz). An airborne Ku-band polarimetric scatterometer (POLSCAT) was developed for proof-of-concept measurements. A set of aircraft flights indicated repeatable wind direction signals in the POLSCAT observations of sea surfaces at 9-11 m/s wind speed. The correlation coefficients between co- and cross-polarized radar response of ocean surfaces have a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 0.4 and are shown to have an odd-symmetry with respect to the wind direction, unlike the normalized radar cross sections     

Estimation of snow water equivalence using SIR-C/X-SAR. I. Inferring snow density and subsurface properties

Algorithms for estimating dry snow density and the dielectric constant and roughness of the underlying soil or rock use backscattering measurements with VV and HH polarization at L-band frequency (1.25 GHz). Comparison with field measurements of snow density during the first SIR-C/X-SAR overpass shows absolute accuracy of 42 kg m/sup -3/ (13% relative error). For the underlying soil, comparisons with the ground scatterometer measurements showed errors of 4% by volume for soil moisture estimation and 4 mm for the surface root mean square (RMS) height. Values of snow density and the properties of the underlying soil are necessary for the estimation of snow water equivalence.     

The effect of inhomogeneous roughness on radar backscattering fromslightly deformed sea ice

This paper focuses on the spatially varying backscattering signature of an area of refrozen brash ice observed by a ship based scatterometer. The measurements were carried out as part of the Baltic Experiment for ERS-1 in 1994. The scatterometer was operated at 5.4 GHz at different incidence angles and polarizations. By analysing the scatterometer data over azimuth scans, it was found that the backscattering variabilities are not only due to fading but also contain a textural component. Surface height profiles were measured using a laser. The observed ice surface roughness was nonstationary over the measurement area. The ice surface can be approximated by adjacent patches of stationary roughness with patch dimensions of about 4.5 m. From the roughness spectra of different stationary patches, two roughness classes can be distinguished. The implications of estimating the roughness parameters from relatively short profile lengths is discussed and the effect on theoretical predictions of the backscattering coefficient is investigated. The texture variance is evaluated theoretically on the basis of the simulated backscattering coefficients of the two observed roughness classes and is found to compare with the scatterometer data     

Microwave backscattering and emission model for grass canopies

Microwave radar and radiometer measurements of grasslands indicate a substantial reduction in sensor sensitivity to soil moisture in the presence of a thatch layer. When this layer is wet it masks changes in the underlying soil, making the canopy appear warm in the case of passive sensors (radiometer) and decreasing backscatter in the active case (scatterometer). A model for a grass canopy with thatch is presented in order to explain this behavior and for comparison with observations. The canopy model consists of three layers: grass, thatch, and the underlying soil. The grass blades are modeled by elongated elliptical discs and the thatch is modeled as a collection of disk shaped water droplets (i.e., the dry matter is neglected). The ground is homogeneous and flat. The distorted Born approximation is used to compute the radar cross section of this three layer canopy and the emissivity is computed from the radar cross section using the Peake formulation for the passive problem. Results are computed at L-band (1.4 GHz) and C-band (4.75 GHz) using canopy parameters (i.e., plant geometry, soil moisture, plant moisture, etc.) representative of Konza Prairie grasslands. The results are compared to C-band scatterometer measurements and L-band radiometer measurements at these grasslands     

An X- and Ku-Band 8-Element Phased-Array Receiver in 0.18-$mu{hbox{m}}$ SiGe BiCMOS Technology

This paper demonstrates an 8-element phased array receiver in a standard 0.18-mum SiGe BiCMOS (1P6M, SiGe HBT f_t ap 150 GHz) technology for X- and Ku-band applications. The array receiver adopts the All-RF architecture, where the phase shifting and power combining are done at the RF level. With the integrations of all the digital control circuitry and ESD protection for all I/O pads, the receiver consumes a current of 100 ~ 200 m A from a 3.3 V supply voltage. The receiver shows 1.5 ~ 24.5 dB of power gain per channel from a 50 Omega load at 12 GHz with bias current control, and an associated NF of 4.2 dB (@ max. gain) to 13.2 dB (@ min. gain). The RMS gain error is < 0.9 dB and the RMS phase error is < 6deg at 6-18 GHz for all 4-bit phase states. The measured group delay is 162.5 plusmn 12.5 ps for all phase states at 6-18 GHz. The RMS phase mismatch and RMS gain mismatch among the eight channels are < 2.7deg and 0.4 dB, respectively, for all 16 phase states, over 6-18 GHz. The 8-element array can operate instantaneously at any center frequency and with a wide bandwidth (3 to 6 GHz, depending on the center frequency) given primarily by the 3 dB gain variation in the 6-18 GHz range. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an All-RF phased array on a silicon chip with very low RMS phase and gain errors at 6-18 GHz. The chip size is 2.2 times 2.45 mm² including all pads.     

ERS-1 scatterometer measurements. II. An algorithm forocean-surface wind retrieval including light winds

For pt.I see ibid., vol.36, no.2, p.603-22 (1998). An algorithm for retrieving European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) scatterometer winds, denoted the Rufenach-Bates-Tosini (RBT) algorithm, is developed and used to retrieve winds collocated within ±25 km of buoy measurements in two oceanic regions, equatorial and midlatitude. An improvement in the retrieved RBT winds over the European Space Agency (ESA) winds is due mainly to a geophysical model employing the full available wind-speed range, including the lightest winds. This model, denoted BMOD5, is tuned by using the scatterometer and buoy measurements, resulting in two different models for the midlatitude and equatorial regions. The RBT retrieved winds exhibit (1) a larger number of solutions (wind vectors) and (2) smaller biases in wind speed than the ESA wind product. The increase in the number of retrieved winds is primarily due to lighter winds employed, 0.2 m/s to 18 m/s; whereas, the ESA winds are truncated near 3 m/s. The ESA winds underestimate the highest winds significantly, by about 20%, and overestimate the lightest winds. The RBT wind bias is less than a few percent at the highest winds and a few tenths of a m/s at the lowest winds. Both algorithms retrieve 180° ambiguous directions almost as often as the true direction. Regression fits to the winds using the RBT algorithm produce standard deviations of 1 m/s and 25° near the equator for winds varying from 0.2-10 m/s and 1.2 m/s and 250 at midlatitudes for winds varying from 0.2-18 m/s, provided that the ambiguities are removed     

AMSR-2性能改进对无线电频率干扰的有效缓解

为缓解星载微波辐射计探测资料在低频6.9 GHz波段的无线电频率干扰（radio frequency interference,RFI）,第二代先进的微波扫描辐射计（advanced microwave scanning radiometer-2,AMSR-2）在AMSR-E通道设置的基础上增加了中心频率为7.3 GHz的两个极化通道.除此之外,AMSR-2在硬件方面将天线反射器的直径由1.6 m扩大为2.0 m,并减小了各通道的波束宽度.本文基于AMSR-E 2010-10—2011-09（AMSR-E工作最后一年）和AMSR-2 2012-08—2013-07（AMSR-2工作第一年）、2016-08—2017-07（AMSR-2工作四年后）长时间序列的观测资料通过平均值标准差法识别全球陆地6.9 GHz和7.3 GHz通道的无线电频率污染.研究结果表明,AMSR-2 7.3 GHz观测资料中识别出的RFI污染像元数量上远小于AMSR-E 6.9 GHz观测资料中受污染像元个数,尤其是美国和日本地区,体现了新增通道对RFI的有效缓解.AMSR-2在硬件方面的改进增大了主波束效率,提高了空间分辨率;与AMSR-E共有的6.9 GHz通道相比,全球RFI从出现范围和强度上都有所减小.     

16‐QAM‐Based Highly Spectral‐Efficient E‐band Communication System with Bit Rate up to 10 Gbps

This paper presents a novel 16‐quadrature‐amplitude‐modulation (QAM) E‐band communication system. The system can deliver 10 Gbps through eight channels with a bandwidth of 5 GHz (71‐76 GHz/81‐86 GHz). Each channel occupies 390 MHz and delivers 1.25 Gbps using a 16‐QAM. Thus, this system can achieve a bandwidth efficiency of 3.2 bit/s/Hz. To implement the system, a driver amplifier and an RF up‐/down‐conversion mixer are implemented using a 0.1 µm gallium arsenide pseudomorphic high‐electron‐mobility transistor (GaAs pHEMT) process. A single‐IF architecture is chosen for the RF receiver. In the digital modem, 24 square root raised cosine filters and four (255, 239) Reed‐Solomon forward error correction codecs are used in parallel. The modem can compensate for a carrier‐frequency offset of up to 50 ppm and a symbol rate offset of up to 1 ppm. Experiment results show that the system can achieve a bit error rate of 10^?5 at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of about 21.5 dB.     

A millimeterwave network analyzer based scatterometer

The Millimeterwave Polarimeter (MMP) is a network-analyzer-based scatterometer and reflectometer system that has been developed to characterize radar clutter at 35, 94, and 140 GHz. A Hewlett-Packard 8510A network analyzer is used in the MMP system as a signal conditioner and processor to facilitate real-time data reduction, to reduce the short time-delay leakage noise inherent in traditional FM/CW radar, and to further enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the system through signal processing techniques. Operation of the system at millimeter wavelengths is achieved with upconversion and harmonic downconversion. The use of harmonic downconverters permits low-frequency signal connections between components of the system and allows easy reconfiguration in either scatterometer, bistatic, or reflection/transmission modes     

Airborne imaging microwave radiometer. I. Radiometric analysis

The airborne imaging microwave radiometer (AIMR) was designed and built for regional scale sea ice mapping. It operates at 37 and 90 GHz (nominal), and collects radiance at two orthogonal polarizations from which one can compute horizontal and vertical polarizations. The sensitivity or precision (ΔT) of the radiometric data is on the order of 0.5-0.8 K for the 37 GHz channels and 0.8-1.5 for the 90 GHz channels. A detailed error analysis was conducted to assess the accuracy of the radiometric measurements. The error in the brightness temperatures of the original orthogonal polarizations channels was found to be on the order of 0.35-0.45 K for the 37 GHz channel and 0.55-0.65 K for the 90 GHz channel. The polarization conversion introduces additional errors and these are analyzed and computed for the LIMEX-89 data. The total error due to both calibration and polarization conversion for incidence angles greater than 20° is on the order of 0.65-0.70 K for 37 GHz and 0.75-0.85 K for 90 GHz. For incidence angles between 10° and 20° the error can be up to 1.5 K. As the incidence angle approaches zero the distinction between horizontal and vertical polarization breaks down and the error approaches infinity     

Measuring soil moisture with imaging radars

An empirical algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture content and surface root mean square (RMS) height from remotely sensed radar data was developed using scatterometer data. The algorithm is optimized for bare surfaces and requires two copolarized channels at a frequency between 1.5 and 11 GHz. It gives best results for kh⩽2.5, μ_υ⩽35%, and &thetas;⩾30°. Omitting the usually weaker hv-polarized returns makes the algorithm less sensitive to system cross-talk and system noise, simplifies the calibration process and adds robustness to the algorithm in the presence of vegetation. However, inversion results indicate that significant amounts of vegetation (NDVI>0.4) cause the algorithm to underestimate soil moisture and overestimate RMS height. A simple criteria based on the σ_hv⁰/σ_vv⁰ ratio is developed to select the areas where the inversion is not impaired by the vegetation. The inversion accuracy is assessed on the original scatterometer data sets but also on several SAR data sets by comparing the derived soil moisture values with in-situ measurements collected over a variety of scenes between 1991 and 1994. Both spaceborne (SIR-C) and airborne (AIRSAR) data are used in the test. Over this large sample of conditions, the RMS error in the soil moisture estimate is found to be less than 4.2% soil moisture     

WDM receiver by monolithic integration of an optical preamplifier,waveguide grating router and photodiode array

A high performance monolithic WDM receiver is demonstrated. The chip receives eight optical channels spaced by 200 GHz. An optical amplifier at the input of the device boosts the incoming signal. A fibre insertion DC responsivity of 0.5 A/W and crosstalk below -20 dB are achieved. The receiver has a small signal bandwidth of 3.5 GHz     

Evaluation of a compound probability model with tower-mountedscatterometer data

Six months of data from the YSCAT94 experiment conducted at the CCIW WAVES research platform on Lake Ontario, Canada, are analyzed to evaluate a compound probability model. YSCAT was an ultrawideband small footprint (≈1 m) microwave scatterometer that operated at frequencies of 2-18 GHz, incidence angles from 0° to 60°, both h-pol and v-pol, and which tracked the wind using simultaneous weather measurements. The probability distribution function of the measured instantaneous backscattered amplitude (p(a)) is compared to theoretical distributions developed from-the composite model and a simple wave spectrum. Model parameters of the resulting Rayleigh/generalized lognormal distribution probability density function (pdf) (C, a₁ , and a₂) are derived directly from the data and are found to demonstrate relationships with wind speed, incidence angle, and radar frequency     

DC and RF characteristics of doped multichannelAlAs0.56Sb0.44/In0.53Ga0.47As field effect transistors with variable gate-lengths

Depletion-mode doped-channel field effect transistors (DCFETs) using a AlAs_0.56Sb_0.44/In_0.53Ga_0.47 As heterostructure with multiple channels grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on an InP substrate are presented. Devices with gate lengths ranging from 0.2 μm to 1.0 μm have been fabricated. Three doped In_0.53Ga_0.47As channels separated by undoped AlAs_0.56Sb_0.44 layers are used for the devices. The devices exhibit unity current gain cut-off frequencies typically between 18 GHz and 73 GHz and corresponding maximum oscillation frequencies typically between 60 GHz and 160 GHz. The multiple channel approach results in wide linearity of dc and RF performance of the device     

An updated analysis of the ocean surface wind direction signal in passive microwave brightness temperatures

We analyze the wind direction signal for vertically (v) and horizontally (h) polarized microwave radiation at 37 GHz, 19 GHz, and 11 GHz; and an Earth incidence angle of 53/spl deg/. We use brightness temperatures from SSM/I and TMI and wind vectors from buoys and the QUIKSCAT scatterometer. The wind vectors are space and time collocated with the radiometer measurements. Water vapor, cloud water and sea surface temperature are obtained from independent measurements and are uncorrelated with the wind direction. We find a wind direction signal that is noticeably smaller at low and moderate wind speeds than a previous analysis had indicated. We attribute the discrepancy to errors in the atmospheric parameters that were present in the data set of the earlier study. We show that the polarization combination 2v-h is almost insensitive to atmospheric changes and agrees with the earlier results. The strength of our new signals agrees well with JPL aircraft radiometer measurements. It is significantly smaller than the prediction of the two-scale sea surface emission model for low and intermediate wind speeds.     

Microwave Sea-Ice Signatures near the Onset of Melt

On June 22, 1982, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing's Convair 580 aircraft (CCRS CV-580) made X-band SAR, Ku-band scatterometer, and K-band Radiometer measurements of the sea ice in Crozier Channel. Measurements of the physical properties of the ice and snow cover were in progress at a site in the southern portion of the CV-580 measurement area at the time of overflight. The CV-580 X-band SAR and Ku-band scatterometer were cross calibrated with the University of Kansas Heloscat to examine the frequency dependence of surface signatures. Analysis of the combined airborne and surface characterization data set shows that the microwave signatures of the surface, under the conditions present, were dominated by the snow cover and, in bare ice areas, by surface moisture. At frequencies above 9.35 GHz no scattering cross section/brightness temperature signatures could be uniquely related to ice type over the entire experiment area.