External calibration of SIR-B imagery with area-extended and point targets

摘要

Data-takes on two ascending orbits of the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) over an agricultural test site in west-central Illinois were used to establish end-to-end transfer functions for conversion of the digital numbers on the 8-bit image to values of the radar backscattering coefficient sigma sup 0 (sq m/sq. m) in dB. The transfer function for each data-take was defined by the SIR-B response to an array of six calibrated point targets of known radar cross-section (transponders) and to a large number of area-extended targets also with known radar cross-section as measured by externally calibrated, truck-mounted scatterometers. The radar cross-section of each transponder at the SIR-B center frequency was measured on an antenna range as a function of local angle of incidence. Two truck-mounted scatterometers observed 20 to 80 agricultural fields daily at 1.6 GHz with HH polarization and at azimuth viewing angles and incidence angles equivalent to those of the SIR-B. The form of the transfer function is completely defined by the SIR-B receiver and the incoherent averaging procedure incorporated into production of the standard SIR-B image product.