Structural Parameter Estimation of Australian Flora with a Ground-based Polarimetric Radar Interferometer

The application of polarimetric SAR interferometry technology is extended to ground based radar imaging (GB-POLInSAR), which has a limited field of view but provides wide band coverage. It also provides for easier deployment of broadband and multi-baseline techniques, from which we can estimate vegetation structure and extinction propagation using model based techniques. This micro-scale multi-parameter combination with good temporal resolution is a unique feature of ground- based sensors. In this paper we present both polarimetric and interferometric coherence calibration results for such a GB-POLInSAR system we have developed at the University of Adelaide. We then show an initial study of height estimation of Australian native plants based on the coherence parameter retrieval models of the polarimetric SAR interferometry technique using the broadband GB-POLInSAR system.