MIRAS reference radiometer: a fully polarimetric noise injection radiometer

Author

Colliander, Andreas ; Tauriainen, Simo ; Auer, Tuomo I. ; Kainulainen, Juha ; Uusitalo, Josu ; Toikka, Martti ; Hallikainen, Martti T.

Author_Institution

Lab. of Space Technol., Helsinki Univ. of Technol., Finland

Volume

43

Issue

5

fYear

2005

fDate

5/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1135

Lastpage

1143

Abstract

A prototype reference radiometer for the Microwave Imaging Radiometer Using Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS) instrument of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite has been developed. The reference radiometer is an L-band fully polarimetric noise injection radiometer (NIR). The main purposes of the NIR are: 1) to provide precise measurement of the average fully polarimetric brightness temperature scene for absolute calibration of the MIRAS image map and 2) to measure the noise temperature level of the noise distribution network of the MIRAS for individual receiver calibration. The performance of the NIR is a decisive factor of the MIRAS performance. In this paper we present the operation principles and calibration procedures of the NIR, a measurement technique called blind correlation making measurements of full Stokes vector possible with the noise injection method, and finally experimental results verifying certain aspects of the design.

Keywords

calibration; hydrological techniques; oceanographic techniques; radiometers; remote sensing; MIRAS image map; Microwave Imaging Radiometer Using Aperture Synthesis; Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite; Stokes parameters; blind correlation making measurements; calibration procedures; digital correlation; full Stokes vector; noise distribution network; noise temperature level; polarimetric brightness temperature; polarimetric noise injection radiometer; receiver calibration; reference radiometer; Apertures; Calibration; Instruments; Microwave imaging; Microwave radiometry; Noise level; Noise measurement; Prototypes; Sea measurements; Temperature measurement; Digital correlation; Stokes parameters; noise injection radiometer (NIR); polarimetric radiometer;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TGRS.2004.840667

Filename

1424291