Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On the calibration of the helicopter borne polarimetric radar René

Étalonnage du radar polarimÉtrique hÉliportÉ renÉ

  • Published:
Annales Des Télécommunications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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°.

Résumé

Le cetp (Centre d’étude des environnements terrestre et planétaires) et Thomson- csf développent depuis 1992 un radar polarimétrique de type à ondes entretenues et modulation de fréquence, embarqué sur hélicoptère ou petit avion. Cet instrument étant destiné à des recherches sur la polarimétrie radar appliquée à l’étude des sols et de la végétation, il est nécessaire de l’étalonner avec précision en phase et en amplitude. La méthode d’étalonnage décrite dans cet article repose sur l’utilisation de trièdres et de dièdres réflecteurs. Les paramètres d’étalonnage obtenus avec cette méthode sont comparés à ceux obtenus avec une deuxième méthode, développée au Jet Propulsion Laboratory, qui utilise les propriétés des surfaces naturelles. L’excellente concordance entre les résultats obtenus avec chacune des deux méthodes démontre la qualité des mesures effectuées avec ce nouvel instrument. En conclusion les premières mesures réalisées sur différentes surfaces naturelles sont présentées.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Prevot (L.), Dechambre (M.), Taconet (O.), Vidal-Madjar (D.), Normand (M.), Galle (S.). Estimating the characteristics of vegetation canopies with airborne radar measurements.Int. J. Remote Sensing (1993), 14, n°15, pp. 2803–2813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Benallegue (M.), Normand (M.), Galle (S.), Dechambre (M.), Taconet (O.), Vidal-Madjar (D.), Prevot (L.). Soil moisture assessment at a basin scale using active microwave remote sensing: the agriscatt’88 airborne campaign on the orgeval watershed.Int. J. Remote Sensing (1994),15, n° 3, pp. 645–656.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Benallegue (M.), Taconet (O.), Vidal-Madjar (D.), Baudin (E), Lancelin (P.), Laurent (G.). Evaluation of calibration methods for an helicopter-borne microwave scatterometer devoted to land use.Int. J. Remote Sensing (1995),16, n° 2, pp. 217–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hauser (D.), Caudal (G.), Rijckenberg (G. J.), Vidal-Madjar (D.), Lancelin (P.), Laurent (G.), ressac: a new airborne FM/cw radar ocean wave spectrometer.IEEE Trans. GRS (1992),30, n° 5, pp. 981–995.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Freeman (A.), Shen (Y), Werner (C. W.). Polarimetric sar calibration experiment using active radar calibrators.IEEE Trans. GRS (1990),28, pp. 224–250.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Sarabandi (K.), Ulaby (F.T.), Tassoudji (M.A.). Calibration of polarimetric radar systems with good polarization isolation.IEEE Trans. GRS (1990),8, n° 1, pp. 70–75.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Van Zyl (J.J.). Calibration of polarimetric radar images using only image parameters and trihedral corner reflector responses.IEEE Trans. GRS (1990),28, pp. 337–348.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Klein (J.D). Calibration of complex polarimetric sar imagery using backscatter correlations.IEEE Trans. AES (1992),28, pp. 183–193.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Sheen (D.R.), Freeman (A.), Kasischke (E.S.). Phase calibration of polarimetric radar images.IEEE Trans. GRS (1989),27, pp. 719–731.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Freeman (A.), Van Zyl (J.J.), Klein (J.D.), Zebker (H.A.), Shen (Y.). Calibration of Stokes and scattering matrix format polarimetric data.IEEE Trans. GRS (1992),30, pp. 531–538.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bernard (R.), Vidal-Madjar (D.), Baudin (F.), Laurent (G.). Data processing and calibration for an airborne scatterometer.IEEE Trans. GRS (1986),24, n° 5, pp. 709–716.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Griffth (H.D.). New ideas in FM radar.Electron. Commun. Eng. J. (1990),2, n° 5, pp. 185–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Pottier (E.), Saillard (J.). Fondements mathématiques de la polarimétrie et son application au domaine du radar.Ann. Télécommunic. (1992),47, n° 7–8, pp. 314–336.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Le Loch (N.). Etudeet comparaison de méthodes d’étalonnage d’un radar polarimètre héliporté de type fm/cw.Thèse de doctorat de l’Université Paris 7, UFR de physique (juin1993).

  15. Ulaby (F.T.), Craig Dobson (M.). Handbook of radar scattering statistics for terrains.Artech House, Norwood (1989).

  16. Rice (S.O.). Reflection of electromagnetic waves from slightly rough surfaces.Commun. Pure and Appl. Math (1951),4, pp. 351–378.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Valenzuela (G.R.). Depolarization of em waves by slightly rough surfaces.IEEE Trans. AP (1967), 15, pp. 552–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Eom (H.J.), Boerner (W.M.). Statistical properties of the phase difference between two orthogonally polarized sar signals.IEEE Trans. GRS (1991),29, n° 1, pp. 182–184.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ulaby (F.T.), Sarabandi (K.), Nashashibi (A.). Statistical properties of the Mueller matrix of distributed targets.IEEE Proceedings-F (1992),139, n° 2, pp. 136–146.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Evans (D.L.), Farr (T.G.), Van Zyl (J.J.), Zebker (H.A.). Radar polarimetry: analysis tools and applications.IEEE Trans. GRS (1988),26, n° 6, pp. 774–789.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Zebker (H.A.), Van Zyl (J.J.), Held (D.N.). Imaging radar polarimetry from wave synthesis.J. Geoph. Research (1987),92, n° Bl, pp. 683–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Zebker (H.A.), Van Zyl (J.J.). Imaging radar polarimetry: a review.Proc. IEEE (1991),79, n° 1, pp. 1581–1606.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. cetp, 10-12, avenue de l’Europe, F-78140, Vélizy, France

    Nathalie LE Loch-Duplex & Daniel Vidal-Madjar

  2. Thomson csf/rcm, La Clef de Saint Pierre, 1, boulevard Jean-Moulin, F-78850, Elancourt Cedex, France

    Jean-Philippe Hardange

Authors
  1. Nathalie LE Loch-Duplex
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel Vidal-Madjar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jean-Philippe Hardange
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Loch-Duplex, N.L., Vidal-Madjar, D. & Hardange, JP. On the calibration of the helicopter borne polarimetric radar René. Ann. Télécommun. 51, 245–257 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02999804

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02999804

Key words

Mots clés

Search

Navigation