Summary
International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation
2008
Session Number:1A
Session:
Number:1A-1
Polarimetric calibration method including Faraday Rotation compensation using passive two reference reflectors
Akihito Takeshiro, Yuichiro Aso, Hajime Fukuchi, Makoto Satake,
pp.-
Publication Date:2008/10/27
Online ISSN:2188-5079
Summary:
Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) was launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in January 2006. The ALOS loads Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) that is the world-first spaceborne full polarimetric radar utilizing horizontally and vertically polarized L-band microwaves both in transmission and reception. Full-Polarimetric SAR is quite useful so that it can measure a scattering matrix of a target with 4 polarization combinations in transmission and reception (HH, HV, VH, VV). However, to utilize Full-Polarimetric SAR data, it is necessary to estimate and remove antenna distortion. In addition, it is very important to estimate and remove Faraday Rotation effect because of orbital altitude and observing wavelength of PALSAR. This Faraday Rotation effect may affect significant data error when the sun activity is active[1]. In this paper we propose polarimetric calibration method to remove both antenna distortion and Faraday Rotation effect by using two passive reference reflectors; a polarization-preserving and a polarization-rotating. We compare the results with those obtained using two reference reflectors; a passive polarization-preserving reflector and an active polarization-rotating reflector. Then we confirm the validity of our polarimetric calibration method and passive polarization-rotating reflector