Tutorial: Fundamentals of Remote Sensing

Microwave remote sensing

Introduction

Microwave sensing encompasses both active and passive

forms of remote sensing. As described in Chapter 2, the microwave portion of the
spectrum covers the range from approximately 1cm to 1m in wavelength. Because of
their long wavelengths, compared to the visible and infrared, microwaves have special
properties that are important for remote sensing. Longer wavelength microwave
radiation can penetrate through cloud cover, haze, dust, and all but the heaviest
rainfall as the longer wavelengths are 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 sensing is similar in concept to thermal remote sensing. All objects
emit microwave energy of some magnitude, but the amounts are generally very small. A
passive microwave sensor detects the naturally emitted microwave energy within its field
of view. This emitted energy is related to the temperature and moisture properties of the
emitting object or surface. Passive microwave sensors are typically radiometers or
scanners and operate in much the same manner as systems discussed previously except
that an antenna is used to detect and record the microwave energy.
The microwave energy recorded by a passive sensor can be emitted by the atmosphere
(1), reflected from the surface (2), emitted from the surface (3), or transmitted from the
subsurface (4). Because the wavelengths are so long, the energy available is quite small
compared to optical wavelengths. Thus, the fields of view must be large to detect enough
energy to record a signal. Most passive microwave sensors are therefore characterized by
low spatial resolution.

Applications of passive microwave remote sensing include meteorology, hydrology, and

oceanography. By looking "at", or "through" the atmosphere, depending on the
wavelength, meteorologists can use passive microwaves to measure atmospheric profiles
and to determine water and ozone content in the atmosphere. Hydrologists use passive
microwaves to measure soil moisture since microwave emission is influenced by moisture
content. Oceanographic applications include mapping sea ice, currents, and surface winds
as well as detection of pollutants, such as oil slicks.

Active microwave sensors provide their own

source of microwave radiation to illuminate the target. Active microwave sensors are
generally divided into two distinct categories: imaging and non-imaging. The most
common form of imaging active microwave sensors is RADAR. RADAR is an acronym for
RAdio Detection And Ranging, which essentially characterizes the function and operation
of a radar sensor. The sensor 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 (or range) to the target.

Non-imaging microwave sensors include altimeters and scatterometers. In most cases

these are 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 round trip time delay to targets to determine
their distance from the sensor. Generally altimeters look straight down at nadir below the
platform and thus measure height or elevation (if the altitude of the platform is
accurately known). Radar altimetry 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 scatterometers are used extensively to accurately
measure the backscatter from various targets in order to characterize different materials
and surface types. This is analogous to the concept of spectral reflectance curves in the
optical spectrum.
For the remainder of this chapter we focus solely on imaging radars. As with passive
microwave sensing, a major advantage of radar is the capability of the radiation to
penetrate through cloud cover and most weather conditions. Because radar is an active
sensor, it can also be used to image the surface at any time, day or night. These are the
two primary advantages of radar: all-weather and day or night imaging. It is also
important to understand that, because of the fundamentally different way in which an
active radar operates compared to the passive sensors we described in Chapter 2, a radar
image is quite different from and has special properties unlike images acquired in the
visible and infrared portions of the spectrum. Because of these differences, radar and
optical data can be complementary to one another as they offer different perspectives of
the Earth's surface providing different information content. We will examine some of
these fundamental properties and differences in more detail in the following sections.

Before we delve into the peculiarities of radar, let's first look briefly at the origins and
history of imaging radar, with particular emphasis on the Canadian experience in radar
remote sensing. The first demonstration of the transmission of radio microwaves and
reflection from various objects was achieved by Hertz in 1886. Shortly after the turn of
the century, the first rudimentary radar was developed for ship detection. In the 1920s
and 1930s, experimental ground-based pulsed radars were developed for detecting
objects at a distance. The first imaging radars used during World War II had rotating
sweep displays which were used for detection and positioning of aircrafts and ships. After
World War II, side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) was developed for military terrain
reconnaissance and surveillance where a strip of the ground parallel to and offset to the
side of the aircraft was imaged during flight. In the 1950s, advances in SLAR and the
development of higher resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) were developed for
military purposes. In the 1960s these radars were declassified and began to be used for
civilian mapping applications. Since this time the development of several airborne and
spaceborne radar systems for mapping and monitoring applications use has flourished.

Canada initially became involved in radar remote sensing in the mid-1970s. It was
recognized that radar may be particularly well-suited for surveillance of our vast northern
expanse, which is often cloud-covered and shrouded in darkness during the Arctic winter,
as well as for monitoring and mapping our natural resources. Canada's SURSAT
(Surveillance Satellite) project from 1977 to 1979 led to our participation in the (U.S.)
SEASAT radar satellite, the first operational civilian radar satellite. The Convair-580
airborne radar program, carried out by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing following
the SURSAT program, in conjunction with radar research programs of other agencies such
as NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), led to the conclusion that spaceborne
remote sensing was feasible. In 1987, the Radar Data Development Program (RDDP),
was initiated by the Canadian government with the objective of "operationalizing the use
of radar data by Canadians". Over the 1980s and early 1990s, several research and
commercial airborne radar systems have collected vast amounts of imagery throughout
the world demonstrating the utility of radar data for a variety of applications. With the
launch of ESA's ERS-1 in 1991, spaceborne radar research intensified, and was followed
by the major launches of Japan's J-ERS satellite in 1992, ERS-2 in 1995, and Canada's
advanced RADARSAT satellite, also in 1995.

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Did you know?

'S' band magnetrons are typically used for microwave oven power sources. They operate
in the range of 2-4 GHz. The corresponding wavelengths are 15 cm to 7.5 cm. The
screening mesh used on microwave oven doors is sufficiently fine (much smaller than 7.5
cm) that it behaves as a continuous, thin, metal sheet, preventing the escape of the
radar energy, yet allowing good visibility of the interior (using visible wavelengths, which
are much shorter yet).

Tutorial: Fundamentals of Remote Sensing

Microwave remote sensing
Radar Basics

As noted in the previous section, a radar is essentially a ranging or distance measuring

device. It consists fundamentally of a transmitter, a receiver, an antenna, and an
electronics system to process and record the data. The transmitter generates successive
short bursts (or pulses of microwave (A) at regular intervals which are focused by the
antenna into a beam (B). The radar beam illuminates the surface obliquely at a right
angle to the motion of the platform. The antenna receives a portion of the transmitted
energy reflected (or backscattered) from various objects within the illuminated beam
(C). By measuring the time delay between the transmission of a pulse and the reception
of the backscattered "echo" from different targets, their distance from the radar and thus
their location can be determined. As the sensor platform moves forward, recording and
processing of the backscattered signals builds up a two-dimensional image of the surface.
While we have characterized electromagnetic radiation in the visible and infrared portions
of the spectrum primarily by wavelength, microwave portions of the spectrum are often
referenced according to both wavelength and frequency. The microwave region of the
spectrum is quite large, relative to the visible and infrared, and there are several
wavelength ranges or bands commonly used which given code letters during World War
II, and remain to this day.

• Ka, K, and Ku bands: very short wavelengths used in early airborne radar systems
but uncommon today.
• X-band: used extensively on airborne systems for military reconnaissance and
terrain mapping.
• C-band: common on many airborne research systems (CCRS Convair-580 and
NASA AirSAR) and spaceborne systems (including
• ERS-1 and 2 and RADARSAT).
• S-band: used on board the Russian ALMAZ satellite.
• L-band: used onboard American SEASAT and Japanese JERS-1 satellites and NASA
airborne system.
• P-band: longest radar wavelengths, used on NASA experimental airborne research
system.
Two radar images of the same agricultural fields

Here are two radar images of the same agricultural fields, each image having been
collected using a different radar band. The one on the top was acquired by a C-band
radar and the one below was acquired by an L-band radar. You can clearly see that there
are significant differences between the way the various fields and crops appear in each of
the two images. This is due to the different ways in which the radar energy interacts with
the fields and crops depending on the radar wavelength. We will learn more about this in
later sections.

When discussing microwave energy, the polarization of the radiation is also important.
Polarization refers to the orientation of the electric field (recall the definition of
electromagnetic radiation from Chapter 1). Most radars are designed to transmit
microwave radiation either horizontally polarized (H) or vertically polarized (V). Similarly,
the antenna receives either the horizontally or vertically polarized backscattered energy,
and some radars can receive both. These two polarization states are designated by the
letters H for horizontal, and V, for vertical. Thus, there can be four combinations of both
transmit and receive polarizations as follows:

• HH - for horizontal transmit and horizontal receive,

• VV - for vertical transmit and vertical receive,
• HV - for horizontal transmit and vertical receive, and
• VH - for vertical transmit and horizontal receive.
The first two polarization combinations are referred to as like-polarized because the
transmit and receive polarizations are the same. The last two combinations are referred
to as cross-polarized because the transmit and receive polarizations are opposite of one
another. These C-band images of agricultural fields demonstrate the variations in radar
response due to changes in polarization. The bottom two images are like-polarized (HH
and VV, respectively), and the upper right image is cross-polarized (HV). The upper left
image is the result of displaying each of the three different polarizations together, one
through each of the primary colours (red, green, and blue). Similar to variations in
wavelength, depending on the transmit and receive polarizations, the radiation will
interact with and be backscattered differently from the surface. Both wavelength and
polarization affect how a radar "sees" the surface. Therefore, radar imagery collected
using different polarization and wavelength combinations may provide different and
complementary information about the targets on the surface.

C-band images