Microwave Remote Sensing (BASIC)

Introduction:

• Microwave sensing encompasses both active and passive forms of remote sensing.
• Spectrum covers the range: /approx/ 1 cm to 1 m, wavelength.
• Longer wavelength microwave radiation can penetrate through cloud cover, haze, dust,
and all but heaviest rainfall as the longer wavelengths is not susceptible to atmospheric
scattering which affects shorter optical wavelengths.
• This property allows detection of microwave energy under almost all weather and
environmental conditions so that data can be collected at any time.
• Passive microwave:
o Similar to the concept of thermal remote sensing.
o It detects the naturally emitted microwave energy within its field of view.
▪ Related to Temperature and Moisture properties of the emitting object or
surface.
o Typically, Radiometers or Scanners – wherein antenna is used to detect and
record the microwave energy.
o Microwave energy recorded by a passive sensor can be;
▪ emitted by the atmosphere,
▪ reflected from the surface,
▪ emitted from the surface or,
▪ transmitted from the subsurface.
o Because of the long wavelengths, the energy available is quite small compared to
optical wavelengths. Thus, FOV must be large to detect enough energy to record
a signal.
o Characterized as low spatial resolution.
o Application - Meteorology, Hydrology, and Oceanography.
▪ By looking “at” or “through” the atmosphere, depends on the wavelength
passive microwaves can be used to measure atmospheric profiles and to
determine water and ozone content in the atmosphere.
▪ Hydrologists can use it to measure soil moisture since microwave
emission is influenced by moisture content.
▪ Oceanographic applications include;
 • Mapping sea ice,
• Currents,
• Surface winds,
• As well as detection of pollutants, such as oil slicks.
• Active Microwave
o Provides its own source of microwave radiation to illuminate the target.
o Generally divided into two distinct categories - Imaging and non-imaging.
o Most common form of imaging active microwave sensors is RADAR, an acronym
for Radio Detection and Ranging.
▪ It transmits a microwave (radio) signal towards the target and detects the
backscattered portion of the signal.
▪ The strength of the backscattered signal is measured to discriminate
between different targets and the time delay between the transmitted and
reflected signals determines the distance (range) to the target.
o Non-Imaging microwave sensors include - Altimeters and Scatterometers.
▪ These profiling devices which take measurements in one linear dimension,
as opposed to the two-dimensional representation of imaging sensors.
▪ Radar altimeters transmit short microwave pulses and measure the
roundtrip time delay to determine their distance from the sensor,
generally it looks straight down at nadir below the platform and thus
measure height or eleveation.
• Is used on aircraft for altitude determination and on aircraft and
satellites for topographic mapping and sea surface height
estimation.
▪ Scatterometers are also generally non-imaging sensors and are used to
make precise quantitative measurements of the amount of energy
backscattered from targets.
• The amount of energy backscattered is dependent on the surface
properties (roughness) and the angle at which the microwave
energy strikes the target.
• Scatterometry measurements over ocean surfaces can be used to
estimate wind speeds based on the sea surface roughness.
 • Ground-based are used to accurately measure the backscatter
from various targets in order to characterize different materials
and surface types.
• Advantage of radar: all-weather and day or night imaging.
• A Radar image is quite different from and has special properties unlike images acquired
in the visible and infrared portions of the spectrum. Radar and Optical data can
complement because of their differences, by offering different perspectives of Earth’s
surface.
• History:
o Early Developments:
▪ Hertz's demonstration of radio microwaves in 1886.
▪ Rudimentary radar for ship detection at the turn of the century.
▪ Experimental ground-based pulsed radars in the 1920s and 1930s.
o World War II:
▪ First imaging radars with rotating sweep displays used for aircraft and
ship detection.
o Post-World War II:
▪ Development of side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) for military
reconnaissance.
▪ Advancements in SLAR and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for military
purposes.
o Declassification and Civilian Applications:
▪ Declassification of military radars in the 1960s for civilian mapping
applications.
o Canadian Involvement:
▪ Canada's entry into radar remote sensing in the mid-1970s.
▪ Participation in SEASAT radar satellite project.
▪ Initiation of the Radar Data Development Program (RDDP) in 1987.
o Spaceborne Radar Research:
▪ Launch of ESA's ERS-1 in 1991, intensifying spaceborne radar research.
▪ Major launches of Japan's J-ERS satellite in 1992, ERS-2 in 1995, and
Canada's RADARSAT satellite in 1995.
 This summary highlights the evolution of imaging radar from its early developments to
its application in spaceborne remote sensing, with a focus on the Canadian experience
in radar remote sensing.

Radar Basics:

• Radar system components: transmitter, receiver, antenna, and electronics for data
processing.
o Transmitter emits short bursts of microwave energy at regular intervals.
o Antenna focuses emitted energy into a beam that illuminates the surface at a right
angle to platform motion.
o Antenna receives backscattered energy from objects within the beam.
o Time delay between transmission and reception used to determine distance and
location of targets.
o Recorded backscattered signals processed to generate two-dimensional surface
image as platform moves forward.
• Microwave wavelength ranges/bands:
o Ka, Ku and K bands – very short wavelengths used in early airborne radar
systems but uncommon today.
o X-band – used extensively on airborne systems for military reconnaissance and
terrain mapping.
o C-band – common on many airborne research systems (CCRS Convair-580 and
NASA AirSAR)
o ERS-1 and 2 and RADARSAT
o S-band – used on board the Russian ALMAZ satellite
o L-band – used onboard American SEASAT and Japanese JERS-1 satellites and NASA
airborne system.
o P-band – longest radar wavelengths, used on NASA experimental airborne
research system.
▪ Different band radar result varies differently due to how radar energy
interacts with the fields and crops depending on the radar wavelength.
• Microwave energy – the polarization of the radiation is important.
o Polarization refers to the orientation of the electric field. Most radars are
designed to transmit microwave radiation either horizontally polarized (H) or
 vertically polarized (V). Similarly, the antenna receives either H or V polarized
backscattered energy, and some can receive both.
o Combinations of polarizations:
▪ Like-polarized
• HH – horizontal transmit and horizontal receive
• VV – vertical transmit and vertical receive
▪ Cross-polarized
• HV – horizontal transmit and vertical receive
• VH – vertical transmit and horizontal receive

Viewing Geometry and Spatial Resolution:

• The portion closest to the nadir track of the radar platform is called Near Range while
the swath farthest is called Far Range.
Radar Image Distortions:
Target Interaction and Image Appearance:

• The brightness of features in a radar image depends on the amount of transmitted energy
returned back to the radar from surface targets.
• Backscattered energy intensity is influenced by radar system characteristics (frequency,
polarization, viewing geometry) and surface properties (landcover type, topography,
relief).
• Interrelated characteristics make it difficult to isolate individual contributions to feature
appearance.
• Changes in parameters can impact and modify the response of other parameters,
affecting backscatter amount.
• Feature brightness in radar image results from a combination of these variables.
• Three fundamental areas control radar energy/target interactions, grouping
characteristics for discussion purposes.
o Surface roughness of the target
o Radar viewing and surface geometry relationship
o Moisture content and electrical properties of the target
• Surface roughness controls microwave energy interaction and determines radar image
tones.
o Roughness refers to average height variations measured on centimeter scale.
o Surface appears smooth if height variations are much smaller than radar
wavelength; appears rough when variations approach wavelength size.
o Smooth surfaces cause specular reflection, directing energy away from sensor
and resulting in darker toned areas on image.
o Rough surfaces scatter energy in all directions, leading to significant backscatter
to radar and lighter toned areas on image.
o Incidence angle, combined with wavelength, influences surface roughness
perception.
o Higher incidence angles make surfaces appear smoother, causing less energy
return to sensor and darker tones in image as swath moves from near to far
range.
o Local incidence angle is the angle between radar beam and a line perpendicular
to slope at point of incidence.
 o Accounts for terrain slope in relation to radar beam, impacting target interaction
and image appearance.
o With flat terrain, local incidence angle equals radar's look angle.
o For terrain with relief, slopes facing radar have smaller local incidence angles,
resulting in strong backscattering and bright-toned appearance in image.
o Relationship between viewing geometry and surface features affects radar
energy interaction and target brightness on image.
o Variations in viewing geometry accentuate topography and relief, leading to
foreshortening, layover, and shadow effects depending on surface slope,
orientation, and shape.
• Look direction or aspect angle of radar beam relative to surface features' alignment
influences appearance of features on radar image.
o Perpendicular look direction to feature orientation results in brighter appearance
due to increased reflected energy; oblique look direction leads to darker
appearance.
o Proper look direction crucial in mountainous areas to minimize layover and
shadowing effects.
o Corner reflectors with two or more surfaces at right angles cause corner
reflection phenomenon, appearing as very bright targets in radar image.
• Moisture content affects electrical properties of objects, influencing absorption,
transmission, and reflection of microwave energy.
o Reflectivity and image brightness increase with higher moisture content; wet
surfaces appear brighter than dry ones.
o Surface scattering dominates when target is moist or wet, depending on
roughness perceived by radar.
o Longer wavelengths penetrate deeper into surfaces than shorter wavelengths.
o Penetrated radar energy may cause volume scattering within medium, resulting
in multiple bounces and reflections from different components within volume.
o Volume scattering may decrease or increase image brightness, depending on
amount of scattered energy returning to radar.
Radar Image Properties:

• Radar images exhibit radar speckle, characterized by a grainy "salt and pepper" texture.
• Speckle arises from random constructive and destructive interference from multiple
scattering returns within each resolution cell.
• Homogeneous targets, like grass-covered fields, would have uniform light-toned pixel
values without speckle effects.
• Reflections from individual blades of grass within resolution cells cause some image
pixels to appear brighter and some darker than average tone, resulting in speckled
appearance of field.
• Speckle is essentially a form of noise which degrades the quality of an image and may
make interpretation more difficult. Speckle reduction can be achieved in two ways:
o Multi-look processing
▪ Multi-look processing involves dividing the radar beam into several
narrower sub-beams.
▪ Each sub-beam provides an independent "look" at the illuminated scene.
▪ Each look is subject to speckle, but summing and averaging the looks
together reduces the amount of speckle in the final output image.
o Spatial filtering
▪ Speckle reduction by spatial filtering is typically performed on the output
image in a digital image analysis environment.
▪ This process involves moving a small window of a few pixels (e.g., 3x3 or
5x5) over each pixel in the image.
▪ A mathematical calculation (e.g., averaging) is applied using the pixel
values within the window, and the central pixel is replaced with the new
value.
▪ The window is moved along in both the row and column dimensions one
pixel at a time until the entire image is covered.
▪ By calculating the average of a small window around each pixel, a
smoothing effect is achieved, reducing the visual appearance of speckle.
• Both multi-look processing and spatial filtering reduce speckle at the expense of
resolution by essentially smoothing the image.
 • The desired amount of speckle reduction must be balanced with the specific application
and the level of detail required.
• Slant-range distortion compresses features in the near-range relative to those in the far
range, requiring correction for true distance measurements.
• Antenna pattern results in stronger returns from the center portion of the swath
compared to the edges, necessitating antenna pattern correction to produce uniform
brightness across the swath.
• Radar systems can differentiate intensity levels up to around 100,000 levels, but this is
too much for visual interpretation, so data is typically scaled down to 256 levels.
• Calibration ensures consistency and accuracy in radar measurements, with relative
calibration correcting for known variations and absolute calibration relating recorded
signal strength to actual energy backscattered from targets.
• Absolute calibration requires detailed measurements of radar system properties and
scattering properties of specific targets, often obtained using ground-based
scatterometers or transponders placed on the ground.

Microwave Remote Sensing (POLARIMETRY)

Advanced Radar Applications:

• Stereo Radar:
o Similar to stereo mapping with aerial photography.
o Involves acquiring stereo radar image pairs covering the same area but with
different look/incidence angles or opposite look directions.
o Provides depth perception and assists in interpretation for forestry, geology, and
topographic mapping.
o Estimation of distance measurements and terrain height from stereo radar data
is called radargrammetry.
• Radargrammetry:
o Utilizes stereo radar data to estimate terrain height and distance measurements.
o Analogous to photogrammetry carried out for similar purposes with aerial
photographs.
o Helps generate topographic maps and provides valuable information for
geological and forestry applications.
 • Interferometry:
o Relies on measuring phase differences between electromagnetic waves.
o Uses two antennas recording returns from each resolution cell to calculate path
length differences.
o Enables precise determination of terrain elevation and generation of three-
dimensional imagery.
• Radar Polarimetry:
o Discriminates between different polarizations transmitted and received by a
radar system.
o Multi-polarization radars transmit one polarization and receive both like- and
cross-polarized returns.
o Polarimetric radars transmit and receive both horizontal and vertical
polarizations.
o Helps improve identification and discrimination between surface features by
capturing variations in polarization sensitivity and phase information.

Radar Polarimetry:

• Polarization in microwave energy propagation and scattering is crucial.

• It refers to the orientation of the electric field vector perpendicular to the wave's
direction.
• It describes the shape and pattern traced by the vector's tip.
• Waves can be predictable (polarized), random (unpolarized), or a combination.
• The degree of polarization indicates the ratio of polarized power to total power.
• A fully polarized wave example is a stable monochromatic sine wave.
• Many radars transmit microwaves in either horizontally polarized (H) or vertically
polarized (V) waves.
• Backscattered waves can have various polarizations, leading to radar polarimetry.
• Polarization combinations can be synthesized using H and V components.
• Systems that transmit and receive both H and V polarizations are common.
• Many radars transmit microwaves in either horizontally polarized (H) or vertically
polarized (V) waves.
• Backscattered waves can have various polarizations, leading to radar polarimetry.
• Polarization combinations can be synthesized using H and V components.
• Systems that transmit and receive both H and V polarizations are common.
• With such radars, there can be four combinations of transmit and receive polarizations.
• Polarimetric Information
o The scattering matrix is the primary description of how a radar target or surface
feature scatters electromagnetic (EM) energy.
o Other forms of polarimetric information can be derived from the scattering
matrix, including synthesized images and polarization signatures.
• Polarization Synthesis
o A polarimetric radar utilizes two orthogonal polarizations, typically linear H and
linear V, for both transmit and receive.
o With knowledge of the scattering matrix, a polarimetric radar can compute the
target response to any combination of incident and received polarizations, a
process known as polarization synthesis.
o Polarization synthesis allows for the creation of images optimized for detecting
specific features, such as ships in ocean images.
o To determine the optimal transmit-receive polarization combination for detecting
ships, the polarization signature of both ships and the ocean is calculated for
various polarizations, and the ratio of ship to ocean backscatter is computed for
each combination.
 o The transmit-receive polarization combination that maximizes the ratio of
backscatter strength is then used to enhance the detectability of ships, a
technique referred to as "polarimetric contrast enhancement" or the use of a
"polarimetric matched filter."
• Polarization Signatures
o The scattering matrix, consisting of four complex numbers, describes the
scattering behavior of a target under different polarizations.
o To simplify interpretation, three-dimensional plots known as "polarization
signatures" or "polarization response plots" are used.
o Polarization signatures visualize a target's scattering properties based on
incident electromagnetic wave parameters such as ellipticity and orientation.
o The x- and y-axes of the polarization signature plot represent the range of
ellipticity (-45º to +45º) and orientation (0 to 180º) of the incident wave,
respectively.
o The z-axis displays the strength of the backscatter for each incident polarization,
both for co-polarized and cross-polarized configurations.
o For simple targets like a large conducting sphere or a trihedral corner reflector,
the polarization signature shows backscatter with the same polarization, but with
a change of sign in ellipticity or a phase angle shift of 180 degrees between
horizontal and vertical polarizations.
o Each reflection causes a sign change in the ellipticity, making these targets
behave as "odd-bounce" reflectors.
o -More complex targets exhibit different polarization signature shapes. For
example, a dihedral corner reflector shows a double peak in the co-polarized
signature, characteristic of "even-bounce" reflectors.
o Bragg scattering from the sea surface resembles the single-bounce sphere, but
with higher backscatter in the vertical polarization compared to the horizontal
polarization.
• Data Calibration
o Polarimetric radar systems require accurate calibration to interpret the ratios of
amplitudes and phase angle differences between the four transmit-receive
polarization combinations.
 o Calibration ensures that scattering mechanisms are correctly interpreted,
allowing the benefits of polarization to be realized.
o Calibration involves both radar system design and data analysis.
o Radar system design aims to match channel gains and minimize phase
differences between channels, often incorporating calibration signals to verify
these balances.
o Data analysis involves measuring and correcting channel balances, cross-talk,
and noise effects by analyzing received data and using signals from known targets
such as corner reflectors, active transponders, and uniform clutter for
calibration.
• Polarimetric Applications
o Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) polarimetry has been primarily experimental,
limited to a few airborne SAR systems and the SIR-C shuttle mission.
o Researchers have utilized polarimetric SAR data to study various applications,
demonstrating improved interpretation of scene features.
o The launch of RADARSAT-2 will enable operational acquisition of polarimetric
data, leading to more routine and sophisticated uses of such data.
▪ Agriculture: for crop type identification, crop condition monitoring, soil
moisture measurement, and soil tillage and crop residue identification;
▪ Forestry: for clearcuts and linear features mapping, biomass estimation,
species identification and fire scar mapping;
▪ Geology: for geological mapping;
▪ Hydrology: for monitoring wetlands and snow cover;
▪ Oceanography: for sea ice identification, coastal windfield measurement,
and wave slope measurement;
▪ Shipping: for ship detection and classification;
▪ Coastal Zone: for shoreline detection, substrate mapping, slick detection
and general vegetation mapping.

Airborne versus Spaceborne Radars:

• Imaging radar sensors can be carried on either airborne or spaceborne platforms.

• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) offers spatial resolution independent of platform
altitude, enabling fine resolution from both airborne and spaceborne platforms.
• Airborne radars cover a wide range of incidence angles to achieve wide swaths, leading
to varying imaging characteristics such as foreshortening, layover, and shadowing.
• Spaceborne radars operate at higher altitudes, imaging over a narrower range of
incidence angles, resulting in more uniform illumination and reduced imaging variations
across the swath.
• Airborne radars offer flexibility in collecting data from different look angles and
directions, but are susceptible to aircraft motion and environmental conditions, requiring
sophisticated navigation and processing for compensation.
• Spaceborne radars provide consistent viewing geometry and faster coverage over larger
areas, but require correction for factors like Earth's rotation and curvature to achieve
proper geometric positioning of features.