Radar Bistatic Configurations for Soil Moisture Retrieval: A Simulation Study
- 3 October 2008
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
- Vol. 46 (10), 3252-3264
- https://doi.org/10.1109/tgrs.2008.921495
Abstract
The possible contribution of bistatic radar measurements for bare soil moisture retrieval is investigated in this paper. A simulation study based on well-established electromagnetic models of rough surface scattering (both coherent and incoherent components) has been accomplished for this purpose. The retrieval accuracy has been evaluated by using both the Cramer-Rao lower bound and the error variance of a linear regression estimator, thus considering slightly different assumptions on retrieval conditions. Both methods have allowed us to identify the optimal system configurations in terms of observation directions, polarizations, and frequency. This identification has been carried out for single-polarization and multipolarization receivers and for the case in which bistatic measurements are complemented by monostatic ones, which are expected to be available through already-existing spaceborne synthetic aperture radars. The optimal systems have first been singled out by considering a Gaussian autocorrelation function (ACF) and a constant value of correlation length. Successively, the simulations for an exponential ACF and a variable correlation length have been analyzed, demonstrating that the results substantially remain the same. The comparison between the soil moisture estimation accuracy yielded by the optimal configurations and that provided by the standard monostatic radar has shown that a significant improvement in the quality of retrieval can be achieved by complementing bistatic and monostatic measurements.Keywords
This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Theoretical Study of the Sensitivity of Spaceborne Bistatic Microwave Systems to Geophysical Parameters of Land SurfacesPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2006
- Semi-empirical calibration of the IEM backscattering model using radar images and moisture and roughness field measurementsInternational Journal of Remote Sensing, 2004
- NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATIONS OF IEM FOR BISTATIC SCATTERING FROM NATURAL AND MANMADE ROUGH SURFACESProgress In Electromagnetics Research, 2004
- Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves: Numerical SimulationsPublished by Wiley ,2001
- Note on the multiple scattering in an IEM modelIEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2000
- Experimental validation of surface scattering and emission modelsIEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2000
- Mathematical Principles of Remote Sensing:Published by Informa UK Limited ,1999
- Spacecraft studies of planetary surfaces using bistatic radarIEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 1993
- An empirical model and an inversion technique for radar scattering from bare soil surfacesIEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 1992
- Coherent scattering of a spherical wave from an irregular surfaceIEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 1983