Calibration of spaceborne polarimetric SAR data using a genetic alogrithm

Calibration method for spaceborne polarimetric SAR data using a genetic algorithm is discussed in this paper. Recently some satellites which have polarimetric synthetic aperture radar were launched, and the polarimetric data analysis techniques are being developed for terrain classification, forest biomass and soil moisture estimations, etc. Thus, polarimetric calibration becomes an important issue for accurate polarimetric analysis. However, typical polarimetric calibration methods have some restrictions. For example, Freeman method requires the polarimetric data which satisfy reflection symmetry and does not estimate cross-talks. Thus, it is desired that a polarimetric calibration method is needed to estimate all polarimetric calibration parameters by using polarimetric data without considering reflection symmetry. In this report, a polarimetric calibration technique based on a genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed. This proposed method can estimate cross-talks, channel imbalances and Faraday rotation angle using one trihedral corner reflector and the measured polarimetric SAR data with non-reflection symmetry.