Development and performance validation of L-, C- and X-band active radar calibrators (ARC) by means of laboratory tests and SIR-C/X-SAR experiments

Schena, V.; Posa, Franco; Ponte, Salvatore; Carolis, Giacomo De

doi:10.1109/igarss.1995.519653

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Concerning the active reflectors, one is the Electronic Corner Reflector at C-band (ECR-C) produced by MetaSensing [2], which is compatible with operation frequencies of Sentinel-1 (S1) and RADARSAT-2. The other two were designed in the early '90s for supporting the calibration of SAR sensors operating at C-band (ARC-C) and X-band (ARC-X) and used for the sensors onboard the NASA/JPL-DC8 aircraft and the SIR-C/X-SAR mission [3,4].…”

Section: Experimental Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this, the signal coming from ERC-C is visible by Dataset-1, Dataset-2, and Dataset-3. The nominal RCS is 𝑅𝐶𝑆 𝑛 = 40 ÷ 42 𝑑𝐵𝑚 2 , which means that the device is equivalent to a passive CR of internal edge 𝑎 = 1.8 𝑚, which is a considerably larger than the ERC-C's size of 56𝑥36𝑥23 𝑐𝑚 3 . Both size and flexible visibility make the ECR-C clearly more advantageous with respect to passive reflectors.…”

Section: Active Reflectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploiting artificial reflectors for SAR interferometry applications

Nitti,

Nutricato,

Tijani

et al. 2023

Microwave Remote Sensing: Data Processing and Applications II

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This work is devoted to experiment the use of artificial reflectors, both passive and active, for supporting the displacement measurements derived through multi-temporal SAR interferometry (MTInSAR). An experimental site has been set up by deploying two corner reflectors (CRs) and three active reflectors. Each CR consists of three triangular metal panels whose internal leg is respectively 69.5 cm (CR0) and 1.05 m (CR1), welded perpendicularly to each other to form a trihedral shape. Concerning the active reflectors, one is a C-band Electronic Corner Reflector (ECR-C), which is compatible with operation frequency of Sentinel-1, while the other two are Active Radar calibrators (ARC) designed in the early '90s for supporting the calibration of SAR sensors operating at C-band (ARC-C) and X-band (ARC-X). ECR-C and ARC-C have been tuned to work with the Sentinel-1 C-band SAR mission, while ARC-X has been exploited for working with COSMO-SkyMED X-band constellation. Ascending and descending data acquired by COSMO-SkyMED and Sentinel-1 have been processed through the SPINUA MTInSAR algorithm, then time series of both SAR amplitude and displacement values have been analysed for comparing results from CRs of different sizes and active reflectors. Generally, we found a good agreement between the measured and the nominal expected backscattered signals (both in amplitude and phase). The CR size impacts on the signal quality: CR0 is smaller and so noisier and more exposed to interaction with both ERC-C and urban structures than CR1. Phase stability of active reflectors is sometimes below the expected value. This instrumented test site will be proposed as an open experimental site by providing open data for testing and validating interferometric techniques.

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Section: Experimental Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Active Reflectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploiting artificial reflectors for SAR interferometry applications

Nitti,

Nutricato,

Tijani

et al. 2023

Microwave Remote Sensing: Data Processing and Applications II

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“…To evaluate the system transfer function, a measurement system consisting of a signal generator and a spectrum analyzer was set up [12]. The test signal was sent to the ARC by the signal generator and then to the spectrum analyzer.…”

Section: System Transfer Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, the NASA/JPL DC-8 aircraft SAR operated at three frequencies (L-, C-, and P-bands), but the ARCs used for calibration operated at a single frequency (three L-band ARCs and three C-band ARCs were used) [11]. Another SIR-C/X-SAR operated in the L-, C-and X-bands; however, two L-band ARCs, two X-band ARCs, and three C-band ARCs were used for the calibration of the SIR-C/X-SAR [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Implementation of a Multi-Band Active Radar Calibrator for SAR

Liu

Hong

et al. 2019

Remote Sensing

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Over the past decade, IECAS (Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) has developed a set of L-, S-, C-, and X-band active radar calibrators that are deployed during the calibration campaigns for HJ1C synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Gaofen-3 SAR, and so on. In the near future, P-band and Ka-band spaceborne SARs will be launched. We found that it is not convenient to develop special active radar calibrators (ARCs) for a specific SAR or a specific frequency band SAR, and the acquired experience could help in the design and development of a multi-band ARC. This paper describes the design and implementation of a multi-band active radar calibrator which can operate in the L-, C-, X-, and Ka-bands. Moreover, laboratory measurements are performed to characterize the performance of the multi-band ARC, paying particular attention to the gain stability, the system transfer function, the gain flatness, and the linearity of the ARC receiver. Three such ARCs are developed, and to our knowledge, the multi-band ARC is the first of its kind in China or even in the world, and it can be used to implement the calibration campaigns of the Chinese Gaofen-3 SAR, Shenzhen-1 SAR, Luojia-2 SAR, and so on.

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