The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS): Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation

Liujun Zhu; Jeffrey P. Walker; Nan Ye; Christoph Rüdiger; Jorg M. Hacker; Rocco Panciera; Mihai A. Tanase; Xiaoling Wu; Douglas A. Gray; Nick Stacy; Alvin Goh; Heath Yardley; Jim Mead

doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2873218

The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS): Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation

Liujun Zhu, Jeffrey P. Walker, Nan Ye, Christoph Rüdiger, Jorg M. Hacker, Rocco Panciera, Mihai A. Tanase, Xiaoling Wu, Douglas A. Gray, Nick Stacy, Alvin Goh, Heath Yardley, Jim Mead

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The polarimetric L-band imaging synthetic aperture radar (PLIS) is a high spatial resolution (better than 6 m) airborne synthetic aperture radar system that has been dedicated to scientific research into civilian applications since 2010. The weight of PLIS is ∼38 kg, allowing it to be installed aboard small low-cost aircraft, with two antennas used to measure the full backscatter matrix for a swath between 15° and 50° on each side of the flight direction. Calibration based on a total of 96 calibration points and a homogeneous forest during the two recent soil moisture active passive experiments (SMAPEx-4 and 5) showed an overall radiometric accuracy of 0.58 dB (root-mean-square error) over trihedral passive radar calibrators. Independent evaluation based on polarimetric active radar calibrators showed an amplitude imbalance of 0.17 dB with a standard deviation of 0.15 dB and a phase imbalance of 3.87° with a standard deviation of 2.86°. Two calibrated phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2) images with different observation modes (ScanSAR and Stripmap) were compared with the calibrated PLIS images. The agreement between PALSAR-2 Stripmap and PLIS had a root mean square difference of 1.27 dB and a correlation coefficient of 0.87. Further comparisons over different landcover types confirmed that homogeneous forest and grassland areas constitute optimal targets for cross-validation and/or calibration.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4513-4525
Number of pages	13
Journal	IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Volume	11
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2873218
Publication status	Published - Nov 2018

Keywords

Calibration and validation
cross-calibration
phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2)
polarimetric L-band imaging SAR (PLIS)
synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

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Zhu, L., Walker, J. P., Ye, N., Rüdiger, C., Hacker, J. M., Panciera, R., Tanase, M. A., Wu, X., Gray, D. A., Stacy, N., Goh, A., Yardley, H., & Mead, J. (2018). The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS): Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 11(11), 4513-4525. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2873218

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title = "The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS): Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation",

abstract = "The polarimetric L-band imaging synthetic aperture radar (PLIS) is a high spatial resolution (better than 6 m) airborne synthetic aperture radar system that has been dedicated to scientific research into civilian applications since 2010. The weight of PLIS is ∼38 kg, allowing it to be installed aboard small low-cost aircraft, with two antennas used to measure the full backscatter matrix for a swath between 15° and 50° on each side of the flight direction. Calibration based on a total of 96 calibration points and a homogeneous forest during the two recent soil moisture active passive experiments (SMAPEx-4 and 5) showed an overall radiometric accuracy of 0.58 dB (root-mean-square error) over trihedral passive radar calibrators. Independent evaluation based on polarimetric active radar calibrators showed an amplitude imbalance of 0.17 dB with a standard deviation of 0.15 dB and a phase imbalance of 3.87° with a standard deviation of 2.86°. Two calibrated phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2) images with different observation modes (ScanSAR and Stripmap) were compared with the calibrated PLIS images. The agreement between PALSAR-2 Stripmap and PLIS had a root mean square difference of 1.27 dB and a correlation coefficient of 0.87. Further comparisons over different landcover types confirmed that homogeneous forest and grassland areas constitute optimal targets for cross-validation and/or calibration.",

keywords = "Calibration and validation, cross-calibration, phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2), polarimetric L-band imaging SAR (PLIS), synthetic aperture radar (SAR)",

author = "Liujun Zhu and Walker, {Jeffrey P.} and Nan Ye and Christoph R{\"u}diger and Hacker, {Jorg M.} and Rocco Panciera and Tanase, {Mihai A.} and Xiaoling Wu and Gray, {Douglas A.} and Nick Stacy and Alvin Goh and Heath Yardley and Jim Mead",

year = "2018",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2873218",

language = "English",

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Zhu, L, Walker, JP, Ye, N, Rüdiger, C, Hacker, JM, Panciera, R, Tanase, MA, Wu, X, Gray, DA, Stacy, N, Goh, A, Yardley, H & Mead, J 2018, 'The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS): Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation', IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 4513-4525. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2873218

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T1 - The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS)

T2 - Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation

AU - Zhu, Liujun

AU - Walker, Jeffrey P.

AU - Ye, Nan

AU - Rüdiger, Christoph

AU - Hacker, Jorg M.

AU - Panciera, Rocco

AU - Tanase, Mihai A.

AU - Wu, Xiaoling

AU - Gray, Douglas A.

AU - Stacy, Nick

AU - Goh, Alvin

AU - Yardley, Heath

AU - Mead, Jim

PY - 2018/11

Y1 - 2018/11

N2 - The polarimetric L-band imaging synthetic aperture radar (PLIS) is a high spatial resolution (better than 6 m) airborne synthetic aperture radar system that has been dedicated to scientific research into civilian applications since 2010. The weight of PLIS is ∼38 kg, allowing it to be installed aboard small low-cost aircraft, with two antennas used to measure the full backscatter matrix for a swath between 15° and 50° on each side of the flight direction. Calibration based on a total of 96 calibration points and a homogeneous forest during the two recent soil moisture active passive experiments (SMAPEx-4 and 5) showed an overall radiometric accuracy of 0.58 dB (root-mean-square error) over trihedral passive radar calibrators. Independent evaluation based on polarimetric active radar calibrators showed an amplitude imbalance of 0.17 dB with a standard deviation of 0.15 dB and a phase imbalance of 3.87° with a standard deviation of 2.86°. Two calibrated phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2) images with different observation modes (ScanSAR and Stripmap) were compared with the calibrated PLIS images. The agreement between PALSAR-2 Stripmap and PLIS had a root mean square difference of 1.27 dB and a correlation coefficient of 0.87. Further comparisons over different landcover types confirmed that homogeneous forest and grassland areas constitute optimal targets for cross-validation and/or calibration.

AB - The polarimetric L-band imaging synthetic aperture radar (PLIS) is a high spatial resolution (better than 6 m) airborne synthetic aperture radar system that has been dedicated to scientific research into civilian applications since 2010. The weight of PLIS is ∼38 kg, allowing it to be installed aboard small low-cost aircraft, with two antennas used to measure the full backscatter matrix for a swath between 15° and 50° on each side of the flight direction. Calibration based on a total of 96 calibration points and a homogeneous forest during the two recent soil moisture active passive experiments (SMAPEx-4 and 5) showed an overall radiometric accuracy of 0.58 dB (root-mean-square error) over trihedral passive radar calibrators. Independent evaluation based on polarimetric active radar calibrators showed an amplitude imbalance of 0.17 dB with a standard deviation of 0.15 dB and a phase imbalance of 3.87° with a standard deviation of 2.86°. Two calibrated phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2) images with different observation modes (ScanSAR and Stripmap) were compared with the calibrated PLIS images. The agreement between PALSAR-2 Stripmap and PLIS had a root mean square difference of 1.27 dB and a correlation coefficient of 0.87. Further comparisons over different landcover types confirmed that homogeneous forest and grassland areas constitute optimal targets for cross-validation and/or calibration.

KW - Calibration and validation

KW - cross-calibration

KW - phased-array L-Band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2)

KW - polarimetric L-band imaging SAR (PLIS)

KW - synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

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JO - IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing

JF - IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing

IS - 11

ER -

The Polarimetric L-Band Imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar (PLIS): Description, Calibration, and Cross-Validation

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Keywords

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