The system and hardware design of real-time fan beam scatterometer data processors
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
Claassen, J. P.↗
Engineering topics
Claassen, J. P.
Publications and source records attributed to Claassen, J. P..
A system concept for wide swath constant incident angle coverage
Multiple beam approach readily overcomes radar ambiguity constraints associated with orbital systems and therefore permits imagery over swaths much wider than 100 kilometers. Furthermore, the antenna technique permits imagery at nearly constant incident angles. When frequency scanning is employed, the center angle may be programmed. The redundant use of the antenna aperture during reception results in lower transmitted power and in shorter antenna lengths in comparison to conventional designs. Compatibility of the approach with passive imagery is also considered.
Claassen, J. P.↗
A system concept for wide swath constant incident angle coverage
The multiple beam SAR system concept is developed and shown to readily overcome the radar ambiguity constraints associated with orbital systems, thus permitting imagery over swaths much wider than 100 km. The antenna technique permits imagery at nearly constant incidence angles. When frequency scanning is used, the center angle may be programmed. The redundant use of the antenna aperture during reception results in lower transmitted power and in shorter antenna lengths in comparison with conventional designs.
Claassen, J. P.↗
The theory and measurement of noncoherent microwave scattering parameters
The radar equation for incoherent scenes is derived and scattering coefficients are introduced in a systematic way to account for the complete interaction between the incident wave and the random scene. Intensity (power) and correlation techniques similar to that for coherent targets are proposed to measure all the scattering parameters. The sensitivity of the intensity technique to various practical realizations of the antenna polarization requirements is evaluated by means of computer simulated measurements, conducted with a scattering characteristic similar to that of the sea. It was shown that for scenes satisfying reciprocity one must admit three new cross-correlation scattering coefficients in addition to the commonly measured autocorrelation coefficients.
Claassen, J. P.↗
Radar systems for a polar mission, volume 1
The application of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in monitoring and managing earth resources is examined. Synthetic aperture radars form a class of side-looking airborne radar, often referred to as coherent SLAR, which permits fine-resolution radar imagery to be generated at long operating ranges by the use of signal processing techniques. By orienting the antenna beam orthogonal to the motion of the spacecraft carrying the radar, a one-dimensional imagery ray system is converted into a two-dimensional or terrain imaging system. The radar's ability to distinguish - or resolve - closely spaced transverse objects is determined by the length of the pulse. The transmitter components receivers, and the mixer are described in details.
Moore, R. K.↗
Radar systems for the water resources mission, volume 1
The state of the art determination was made for radar measurement of: soil moisture, snow, standing and flowing water, lake and river ice, determination of required spacecraft radar parameters, study of synthetic-aperture radar systems to meet these parametric requirements, and study of techniques for on-board processing of the radar data. Significant new concepts developed include the following: scanning synthetic-aperture radar to achieve wide-swath coverage; single-sideband radar; and comb-filter range-sequential, range-offset SAR processing. The state of the art in radar measurement of water resources parameters is outlined. The feasibility for immediate development of a spacecraft water resources SAR was established. Numerous candidates for the on-board processor were examined.
Moore, R. K.↗
Radar systems for the water resources mission, volume 2
The application of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in monitoring and managing earth resources was examined. The function of spaceborne radar is to provide maps and map imagery to be used for earth resource and oceanographic applications. Spaceborne radar has the capability of mapping the entire United States regardless of inclement weather; however, the imagery must have a high degree of resolution to be meaningful. Attaining this resolution is possible with the SAR system. Imagery of the required quality must first meet mission parameters in the following areas: antenna patterns, azimuth and range ambiguities, coverage, and angle of incidence.
Moore, R. K.↗
Radar systems for the water resources mission, volume 3
Recent work was reviewed in the field of remote sensing relative to soil moisture. The target parameters were recognized that are necessary if optimum data retrieval is to be realized, and proper sensor instrumentation was recommended to achieve this goal.
Moore, R. K.↗
Radar systems for the water resources mission. Volume 4: Appendices E-I
The use of a scanning antenna beam for a synthetic aperture system was examined. When the resolution required was modest, the radar did not use all the time the beam was passing a given point on the ground to build a synthetic aperture, so time was available to scan the beam to other positions and build several images at different ranges. The scanning synthetic-aperture radar (SCANSAR) could achieve swathwidths of well over 100 km with modest antenna size. Design considerations for a SCANSAR for hydrologic parameter observation are presented. Because of the high sensitivity to soil moisture at angles of incidence near vertical, a 7 to 22 deg swath was considered for that application. For snow and ice monitoring, a 22 to 37 deg scan was used. Frequencies from X-band to L-band were used in the design studies, but the proposed system operated in C-band at 4.75 GHz. It achieved an azimuth resolution of about 50 meters at all angles, with a range resolution varying from 150 meters at 7 deg to 31 meters at 37 deg. The antenna required an aperture of 3 x 4.16 meters, and the average transmitter power was under 2 watts.
Moore, R. K.↗
Radar systems for a polar mission, volume 3, appendices A-D, S, T
Success is reported in the radar monitoring of such features of sea ice as concentration, floe size, leads and other water openings, drift, topographic features such as pressure ridges and hummocks, fractures, and a qualitative indication of age and thickness. Scatterometer measurements made north of Alaska show a good correlation with a scattering coefficient with apparent thickness as deduced from ice type analysis of stereo aerial photography. Indications are that frequencies from 9 GHz upward seem to be better for sea ice radar purposes than the information gathered at 0.4 GHz by a scatterometer. Some information indicates that 1 GHz is useful, but not as useful as higher frequencies. Either form of like-polarization can be used and it appears that cross-polarization may be more useful for thickness measurement. Resolution requirements have not been fully established, but most of the systems in use have had poorer resolution than 20 meters. The radar return from sea ice is found to be much different than that from lake ice. Methods to decrease side lobe levels of the Fresnel zone-plate processor and to decrease the memory requirements of a synthetic radar processor are discussed.
Moore, R. K.↗
AAFE RADSCAT data reduction programs user's guide
Theory, design and operation of the computer programs which automate the reduction of joint radiometer and scatterometer observations are presented. The programs reduce scatterometer measurements to the normalized scattering coefficient; whereas the radiometer measurements are converted into antenna temperatures. The programs are both investigator and user oriented. Supplementary parameters are provided to aid in the interpretation of the observations. A hierarchy of diagnostics is available to evaluate the operation of the instrument, the conduct of the experiments and the quality of the records. General descriptions of the programs and their data products are also presented. This document therefore serves as a user's guide to the programs and is therefore intended to serve both the experimenter and the program operator.
Claassen, J. P.↗
Skylab S-193 Radscat microwave measurements of sea surface winds
The S-193 Radscat made extensive measurements of many sea conditions. Measurements were taken in a tropical hurricane (Ava), a tropical storm (Christine), and in portions of extratropical cyclones. Approximately 200 scans of ocean data at 105 kilometer spacings were taken during the first two Skylab missions and another 200 during the final mission when the characteristics of the measurements changed due to damage of the antenna. Backscatter with four transmit/receive polarization combinations and emissions with horizontal and vertical receive polarizations were measured. Other surface parameters investigated for correlation with the measurements included sea temperature, air/sea temperature difference, and gravity-wave spectrum. Methods were developed to correct the microwave measurements for atmospheric effects. The radiometric data were corrected accurately for clear sky and light cloud conditions only. The radiometer measurements were used to recover the surface scattering characteristics for all atmospheric conditions excluding rain. The radiometer measurements also detected the presence of rain which signaled when the scattering measurement should not be used for surface wind estimation. Regression analysis was used to determine empirically the relation between surface parameters and the microwave measurements, after correction for atmospheric effects. Results indicate a relationship approaching square-law at 50 deg between differential scattering coefficient and wind speed with horizontally polarized scattering data showing slightly more sensitivity to wind speed than vertically polarized data.
Moore, R. K.↗
The recovery of microwave scattering parameters from scatterometric measurements with special application to the sea
As part of an effort to demonstrate the value of the microwave scatterometer as a remote sea wind sensor, the interaction between an arbitrarily polarized scatterometer antenna and a noncoherent distributive target was derived and applied to develop a measuring technique to recover all the scattering parameters. The results are helpful for specifying antenna polarization properties for accurate retrieval of the parameters not only for the sea but also for other distributive scenes.
Claassen, J. P.↗
The recovery of polarized apparent temperature distributions of flat scenes from antenna temperature measurements
The reception theory for quasi-monochromatic partially polarized emissions is employed to describe the antenna temperature when observing a flat scene from within or above an absorbing/emitting atmosphere. When the polarization aspects of the antenna and scene are carefully observed, the resulting integral expression for the antenna temperature differs significantly from that reported for polarization invariant temperature distributions. It is observed that the antenna couples to both emitted surface polarizations, and the phase character of the antenna introduces a term involving the product of the polarized and cross-polarized antenna patterns. A matrix approximation of the integral expression is suggested and developed as a means for inverting polarized antenna temperature observations for the underlying partially polarized apparent temperature distributions.
Claassen, J. P.↗
A simple formulation of oxygen absorption at centimeter wavelengths
Carefully performed experiments by a number of investigators have supported the Van Vleck line shape theory for oxygen absorption in the lower-frequency wing (0-50 GHz). In view of the frequent need to compute oxygen absorption at centimeter wavelengths and lower a computationally simple four-line absorption model based on the Van Vleck theory is offered. The approximation yields computational accuracy better than 1% over the entire range of atmospheric pressures and temperatures for frequencies less than 30 GHz when it is compared with the Van Vleck 45-line expression. The versatility of the model in adapting to various line-broadening expressions is also shown. Instead of refining the present theories, this communication is mainly intended to propose a more convenient formulation to compute oxygen absorption.
Claassen, J. P.↗
Simultaneous active and passive microwave response of the earth - The Skylab radscat experiment
The Skylab microwave radiometer-scatterometer experiment S-193 was designed to collect simultaneous information on the radiometric emission and the backscatter from the earth from orbital altitude for the first time. A primary driving force was ascertaining the response from the oceans of both active and passive systems to variations in wind, and the ability of the passive system to aid in calibrating the active system. Numerous overland applications were also explored. Preliminary results of backscatter and emission from sea and atmosphere are shown for hurricane Ava and for two flights across the Gulf of Mexico. The results tend to confirm the most recent theoretical prediction of an approximately square-law relation between scattering coefficient for horizontal polarization and windspeed, with a somewhat smaller dependence for vertical polarization. Overland measurements show that scatterometer signals at 30 deg increase and radiometer signals decrease for terrain that has recently experienced rainfall.
Moore, R. K.↗
Toward RADSCAT measurements over the sea and their interpretation
Investigations into several areas which are essential to the execution and interpretation of suborbital observations by composite radiometer - scatterometer sensor (RADSCAT) are reported. Experiments and theory were developed to demonstrate the remote anemometric capability of the sensor over the sea through various weather conditions. It is shown that weather situations found in extra tropical cyclones are useful for demonstrating the all weather capability of the composite sensor. The large scale fluctuations of the wind over the sea dictate the observational coverage required to correlate measurements with the mean surface wind speed. Various theoretical investigations were performed to establish a premise for the joint interpretation of the experiment data. The effects of clouds and rains on downward radiometric observations over the sea were computed. A method of predicting atmospheric attenuation from joint observations is developed. In other theoretical efforts, the emission and scattering characteristics of the sea were derived. Composite surface theories with coherent and noncoherent assumptions were employed.
Claassen, J. P.↗