Implementing Solutions to Inverse Scattering Problems: Signal Processing & Applications

• Published in: Mathematical and Physical Modelling of Microwave Scattering and Polarimetric Remote Sensing pp. 321 - 346
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2001
• Series: Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing
• Subjects: Inverse Scattering Problem; Phase Fluctuation; Polarization Response; Scatter Cross Section; Synthetic Aperture Radar
• ISBN: 9781402001222; 1402001223
• ISSN: 1567-3200
• DOI: 10.1007/0-306-48091-3_15

We have seen that polarization measurements provide information on characteristics of a medium, e.g. surface roughness, morphology, permittivity, etc. Measurements of time of arrival and spectral contents of the scattered-echo signal allow the determination of the position and speed of a reflecting object. The solution to the inverse problem is to find from the measurements of polarization responses these characteristics of a medium or a scatterer. To this purpose, various types of polarimetric radar are used. Scatterometers are used to measure the surface reflectivity as a function of frequency, polarization and illumination direction. They are used to characterize quantitatively surface roughness. Altimeters are used for topographic mapping applications. Synthetic aperture radars (SAR) are used to produce high resolution images. Applications are for earth remote sensing, e.g., monitoring of vegetation, weather-atmospheric conditions, ocean profiles, terrain roughness, etc. The remote sensing data can also be used to improve adaptive radar techniques (e.g. adaptive clutter suppression).