First polarimetric validation and results on the bistatic scattering by a set of cylinders using a forest scattering model

Abstract:
In the context of forestry and FOPEN studies, no experimental result of bistatic SAR campaigns on forest is available to determine the most relevant bistatic configuration. Hence, a simulation tool is required. The tool under study is a coherent scattering model dedicated to the radar observation of forest (COSMO) which has been widely validated from P-band to L-band in radiometry, polarimetry and interferometry in the monostatic mode. The model being not fully validated in the bistatic mode, results of indoor measurements are presented. Fully polarimetric bistatic acquisitions are made on models of trunks and branches for the equivalent P-band. The targets under study are dielectric cylinders whose permittivities are perfectly known in this range of frequencies. Then, we analyze the simulated fields scattered by this group of cylinders, for a constant incidence direction and all possible scattering directions. Results are presented using a spherical representation, which has been found to be the most convenient to interpret the scattering pattern. Parameters such as the positions and orientations of cylinders are analyzed both in radiometry and polarimetry.