The gridded trihedral: a new polarimetric SAR calibration reflector

The characteristics of the gridded trihedral used to calibrate polarimetric synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) systems are considered. The gridded trihedral is a normal trihedral with one of the conducting faces replaced with a grid of closely spaced (relative to a wavelength) parallel conductors over a layer of microwave absorber. This grid changes the incident wave´s polarization and results in a calibration target with a significant cross-polarized reflection. The advantages of the gridded trihedral are that it has a broad backscatter beamwidth (unlike the dihedral), and that it is passive and simple to construct (unlike the active radar calibrator, or ARC). The performance characteristics of the gridded trihedral reflector are reviewed, using basic theoretical models and calibrated P-3 SAR imagery