Updating GeoSAR for full-pol interferometric capability

Abstract

GeoSAR is a single pass, dual frequency (X-band and P-band) interferometric mapping radar designed to map both top vegetation canopies and the terrain beneath the canopy. This system was developed from 1998-2003 as a joint effort of NASA JPL and EarthData under sponsorship of DARPA and NGA. The system is flown on a G-II aircraft and maps 10-12 km swaths simultaneously on both sides of the aircraft to generate high quality DEMs and imagery at both X-band and P-band. The system was later augmented with a nadir-pointing lidar profiler system to generate highly accurate control points that can be used in generating large area mosaics. Over the last 5 years the field of polarimetric interferometry has shown great utility in mapping the top of canopies and the underlying terrain with a great deal of accuracy at both L-band and P-band. This paper discusses an upgrade of the GeoSAR dual-pol (HH, HV) P-band interferometer to a fully polarimetric interferometer (HH, HV, VH, VV). We present both hardware and processor changes to the GeoSAR system needed for fully polarimetric interferometric operation.

GeoSAR P/X-band single pass IFSAR over arctic ice

“…GeoSAR [1] is a single pass, wideband, dual frequency (X-band and P-band) interferometric mapping radar designed to map simultaneously both top vegetation canopies and the terrain beneath the canopy. This system was developed from 1998-2003 as a joint effort of NASA JPL and EarthData under sponsorship of DARPA and NGA.…”

“…The GeoSAR airborne single-pass P-band and X-band IFSAR system was employed 09 April 2012 to acquire ice data 1 Figure 1 illustrates the scope of the data acquisition, which includes GeoSAR IFSAR data, two corner reflector ground control points, nadir-looking GeoSAR lidar profiler data, and helicopter-based AEM profiler data provided by UAF.…”

“…See[1] for a more complete description of the Mode-4 channels. Note, Mode-4 also supports polarimetric interferometric SAR.…”