Calibration of longer wavelength polarimetric SARs

Conference: EUSAR 2008 - 7th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar
06/02/2008 - 06/05/2008 at Friedrichshafen, Germany

Proceedings: EUSAR 2008

Pages: 4Language: englishTyp: PDF

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Authors:
Freeman, A. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA)
Ainsworth, T. (Remote Sensing Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC 20375, USA)

Abstract:
The problem of calibrating longer wavelength polarimetric SAR systems operating from Earth orbit is addressed. We show that the effect of Faraday rotation introduces an asymmetry into the measured scattering matrix which, provided the system cross-talk is either reciprocal or negligible, allows full polarimetric calibration without the use of external targets such as corner reflectors. In this paper, we examine the practical implementation of this approach and its implications for future polarimetric SAR systems at L- and P-Band.