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Time series of Sentinel-1 data are widely used for monitoring displacements of the Earth surface using persistent scatterer interferometry. By default over land, Sentinel-1 images include two polarimetric channels: 1) VV and 2) VH. However, most works in this application exploit only the VV channel, whereas the VH channel is discarded for its lower amplitude. Thanks to the development of polarimetric persistent scatterer interferometry methods, one can integrate multipolarization channels into a single optimal one. Previous studies proved that the number and spatial density of measurement points is increased. In this work, we explore the reason why the VH channel increases the number of measurement points when using the amplitude dispersion ( DA ) as selection criterion. Results obtained over three geographical locations show that the VH channel helps in two ways. In the first place, the mean amplitude is increased for targets which have higher amplitude in VH channel, usually associated with rotated elements in the scene. In second place, and more importantly, the amplitude dispersion is decreased over many areas for which the VV channel exhibits fluctuations and peaks. Thanks to the insensitivity of the VH channel to these scene changes, it provides additional measurement points which are reliable despite their low amplitude. The increment of measurement points not only extends the spatial density and enables the detection of active deformation areas not found in the VV results but also provides more accurate results than only using the VV channel, thanks to the increased density of points, which helps the deformation estimation. This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (State Agency of Research, AEI) in part by the European Funds for Regional Development under Projects PID2020-117303GB-C21 and PID2020-117303GB-C22, and in part by the framework of the ESA-MOST China DRAGON-5 project with ref. 59339.

Resumen La interferometría diferencial con radar de apertura sintética (SAR) es una técnica conocida en teledetección por sus aplicaciones en la generación de modelos digitales del terreno y el monitoreo de deformaciones de la corteza terrestre. Esta técnica se basa en la fase, un parámetro presente en las imágenes SAR y sensible a la topografía del terreno. Las diferencias de fase se relacionan con cambios de elevación ocurridos entre dos barridos del satélite sobre un mismo espacio. Para la obtención de información topográfica se requiere un modelo digital del terreno y la diferencia de fase permite realizar estimaciones de desplazamiento vertical del terreno con precisiones superiores a 1 centímetro. El presente trabajo permitió estimar la deformación superficial experimentada en la ladera oeste del cráter del volcán Turrialba tras la erupción del 1 de agosto de 2020. Para ello se utilizaron varias imágenes captadas por el sensor Sentinel 1A, de la Agencia Espacial Europea. Abstract Differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (SAR) is a technique known in remote sensing for its applications in the generation of digital terrain models and the monitoring of deformations of the earth’s crust. This technique is based on the phase, a parameter present in SAR images and sensitive to terrain topography. Phase differences are related to elevation changes that occur between two satellite scans over the same space. To obtain topographic information, a digital terrain model is required and thus, phase differences provide information for estimating vertical terrain displacement to an accuracy greater than 1 centimeter. In the present work it was possible to estimate the surface deformation that occurred on the western slope of the crater of the Turrialba volcano after the eruption of August 1, 2020. For this purpose, several images captured by the Sentinel-1A sensor of the European Space Agency were used.

Future Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Radar (GEOSAR) missions will provide permanent monitoring of continental areas of the planet with revisit times of less than 24 h. Several GEOSAR missions have been studied in the USA, Europe, and China with different applications, including water cycle monitoring and early warning of disasters. GEOSAR missions require unprecedented orbit determination precision in order to form focused Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO). A precise orbit determination technique based on interferometry is proposed, including a proof of concept based on an experimental interferometer using three antennas separated 10–15 m. They provide continuous orbit observations of present communication satellites operating at GEO as illuminators of opportunity. The relative phases measured between the receivers are used to estimate the satellite position. The experimental results prove the interferometer is able to track GEOSAR satellites based on the transmitted signals. This communication demonstrates the consistency and feasibility of the technique in order to foster further research with longer interferometric baselines that provide observables delivering higher orbital precision. This work has been supported by the Spanish Science, Research and Innovation Plan (MICINN) with Project Codes TEC2017-85244-C2-2-P and PID2020-117303GB-C21 and by Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu MDM-2016-0600 financed by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Spain.

Temporal analysis of deformations Time Series (TS) provides detailed information of various natural and humanmade displacements. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) generates millimetre-scale products, indicating the chronicle behaviour of detected targets via TS products. Deep Learning (DL) can handle a massive load of InSAR TS to categorize significant movements from non-moving targets. To this end, we employed a supervised Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to distinguish five deformations trends, including Stable, Linear, Quadratic, Bilinear, and Phase Unwrapping Error (PUE). Considering several arguments in a CNN model, we trained numerous combinations to explore the most accurate combination from 5000 samples extracted from a Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique and Sentinel-1 images over the Granada region, Spain. The model overall accuracy exceeds 92%. Deformations of three cases of landslides were also detected over the same area, including the Cortijo de Lorenzo, El Arrecife, and Rules Viaduct areas.

[EN] Sentinel-1 interferometric time-series allow for the accurate retrieval of the target’s temporal decorrelation and, therefore, the inversion of land cover information and its temporal monitoring. This paper describes the development of an observation scenario for monitoring monthly deforestation over the Amazon rainforest, which relies on the use of radar for overcoming the physical limitations of optical sensors caused by the presence of cloud coverage. Specifically, we implement a classification scheme that exploits multi-temporal SAR features, such as backscatter, spatial textures, and interferometric parameters, to map forested areas. Distinct forest maps are generated for consecutive months and further processed to detect deforestation phenomena and map clear-cuts evolution. The obtained results are validated by selecting cloud-free Sentinel-2 multispectral data on the selected area and acquired during the same observation time., [ES] Las series temporales interferométricas Sentinel-1 permiten la estimación precisa de la decorrelación temporal de la muestra y, por tanto, la recuperación de información acerca de la cobertura terrestre y su seguimiento temporal. Este artículo describe el desarrollo de un escenario de observación para el seguimiento de la deforestación mensual sobre la selva amazónica, basándose en el uso de datos radar para superar las limitaciones físicas propias de los sensores ópticos debido a la presencia de cobertura nubosa. En particular, se ha implementado un esquema de clasificación que explota las características multitemporales SAR, como la retrodispersión, texturas espaciales y parámetros interferométricos, para identificar áreas de bosque. Distintos mapas de bosque para meses consecutivos fueron generados y procesados para detectar fenómenos de deforestación y su evolución. Los resultados obtenidos fueron validados a partir de imágenes Sentinel-2 libres de nubes adquiridas sobre la misma zona y hora de observación., The performed work has been partially financed through the HI-FIVE project, granted by the ESA Living Planet Fellowship 2018. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Sentinel-1 mission management, in the person of Luca Martino and Pierre Potin, for providing an additional acquisition scheduling over the state of Rondonia.

This study proposes modifications to an existing automatic classification method of Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) time series (TS) and a new procedure to classify ground movements into seven classes. We also represent a technique to detect TSs affected by phase unwrapping errors and a reclassification part to detect stable points, which are incorrectly classified as moving points using the original method. Around 60 km2of Catalunya were classified using Sentinel-1 images and a PSI technique. The proposed method classified 78359 PS TS. This study provided the spatial distribution of ground movement classes and detected several time series anomalies. © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) has been proved to be an advanced Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique used to measure and monitor terrain deformation. Two of the critical problems with InSAR have been the effect of the refractive atmosphere and decorrelation on the interferometric phases due to long spatial-temporal baseline. The low density of persistent scatterers (PS) in non-urban areas affected by spatial-temporal decoherence more seriously has inspired the development of alternative approaches. Sentinel-1 (S1) has improved the data acquisition throughout, and compared to previous sensors, increased considerably the differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR) and PSI deformation monitoring potential. This paper describes an innovative methodology to process S1 SAR data. Different with PSI, its most original part includes two key processing stages: high and low frequency splitting from wrapped phases, prior to atmospheric filtering, and final direct integration to generate the complete deformation with time series containing linear and nonlinear components. The proposed method has two fundamental advantages compared with traditional PSI approach: the final monitoring results with excellent coverage of coherent points and the generation of active maps even for the areas with serious deformation in short term to break through the inherent limitation of PSI. The effectiveness of the proposed tools is illustrated using a case study located in Catalonia (Spain). This methodology has supposed a definitive step towards the implementation of DInSAR based techniques to support decision makers against geohazards. In this work, the deformation procedures happened in three different areas of the Catalonia (Spain) are presented and analysed. The maximum accumulated subsidence of over – 60 cm induced by mining activity can be detected by proposed methodology with nice coverage from January 2017 to January 2019. These reported cases illustrate how DInSAR based techniques can provide detailed terrain deformation for geohazard activity with complex topographical conditions. The active deformation areas map can be generated in fast aimed at geohazard risk early warning and management., This work was partially supported by Scientific research project of Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information in Jiangsu Province (JSCHKY201904), in part by the Marine Technology Brand Major of Jiangsu Province (PPZY2015B116), and Jiangsu Ocean University's 2020 Higher Education Teaching Reform Research Project (JGX2020006).

Persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) is a group of advanced interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques used to measure and monitor terrain deformation. Sentinel-1 has improved the data acquisition throughout and, compared to previous sensors, increased considerably the differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR) and PSI deformation monitoring potential. The low density of persistent scatterer (PS) in non-urban areas is a critical issue in DInSAR and has inspired the development of alternative approaches and refinement of the PS chains. This paper proposes two different and complementary data-driven procedures to obtain terrain deformation maps. These approaches aim to exploit Sentinel-1 highly coherent interferograms and their short revisit time. The first approach, called direct integration (DI), aims at providing a very fast and straightforward approach to screen-wide areas and easily detects active areas. This approach fully exploits the coherent interferograms from consecutive images provided by Sentinel-1, resulting in a very high sampling density. However, it lacks robustness and its usability lays on the operator experience. The second method, called persistent scatterer interferometry geomatics (PSIG) short temporal baseline, provides a constrained application of the PSIG chain, the CTTC approach to the PSI. It uses short temporal baseline interferograms and does not assume any deformation model for point selection. It is also quite a straightforward approach, which improves the performances of the standard PSIG approach, increasing the PS density and providing robust measurements. The effectiveness of the approaches is illustrated through analyses performed on different test sites. This work has been partially funded by AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya, through a grant for the recruitment of early-stage research staff (Ref: FI_B 00741) and through the Consolidated Research Group RSE, “Remote Sensing” (Ref: 2017-SGR-00729). It has been also partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the DEMOS project “Deformation monitoring using Sentinel-1 data” (Ref: CGL2017-83704-P) and by AGAUR.

Carajás Mineral Province, Amazon region, is the most important one in Brazil. Vale S.A. Company has the right to operate in the area of the N5E mine. The work is conducted on rock alteration products of low geomechanical quality related to sandstones, siltstones, and a lateritic cover. In order to monitor ground deformation, 33 TerraSAR-X images covering the period of March 2012-April 2013 were used in the investigation. An interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) approach based on permanent scatterer interferometry (PSI) using an interferometric point target analysis algorithm was applied. Results demonstrated that most of the area was considered stable during the time span of the image acquisition. However, persistent scatterers (PSs) with high deformation rates were mapped over a landfill probably related to settlements. To validate the PSI data, graphs were generated with the displaced information based on topographic measurements in the field. The graphs showed that the surface deformations during TSX-1 runway coverage are within the miner’s safety threshold and do not present a risk of major problems. The PSI data provided a synoptic and detailed view of the deformation process that affects the mining complex without the need of field campaign or instrumentation.

Camps, Adriano ... et al.-- Special volume: Planet Ocean. Scientia Marina 80(Suppl.1) 2016.-- 14 pages, 20 figures, [EN] This article summarizes some of the activities in which Jordi Font, research professor and head of the Department of Physical and Technological Oceanography, Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC, Spanish National Research Council) in Barcelona, has been involved as co-Principal Investigator for Ocean Salinity of the European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Earth Explorer Mission from the perspective of the Remote Sensing Lab at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. We have probably left out some of his many contributions to salinity remote sensing, but we hope that this review will give an idea of the importance of his work. We focus on the following issues: 1) the new accurate measurements of the sea water dielectric constant, 2) the WISE and EuroSTARRS field experiments that helped to define the geophysical model function relating brightness temperature to sea state, 3) the FROG 2003 field experiment that helped to understand the emission of sea foam, 4) GNSS-R techniques for improving sea surface salinity retrieval, 5) instrument characterization campaigns, and 6) the operational implementation of the Processing Centre of Levels 3 and 4 at the SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre, [ES] Este artículo resume algunas de las actividades en las que Jordi Font, profesor de investigación y jefe del Departamento de Física y Tecnología Oceanográfica, del Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) en Barcelona, ha estado desarrollando como co-Investigador Principal de la parte de la misión SMOS de la ESA, una misión Earth Explorer, desde la perspectiva del Remote Sensing Lab, de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Seguramente, estamos olvidando algunas de sus muchas contribuciones a la teledetección de la salinidad, pero esperamos que esta revisión dé una idea de la importancia de su trabajo. Este artículo se focaliza en los siguientes puntos: 1) las medidas de alta calidad de la constante dieléctrica del agua marina, 2) las campañas de medidas WISE y EuroSTARRS que ayudaron a la definición del modelo geofísico relacionando la temperatura de brillo con el estado del mar, 3) la campaña de medidas FROG 2003 que ayudó a entender la emisión de la espuma marina 4) presentación de las técnicas de GNSS-R para la mejora de la recuperación de la salinidad superficial 5) campañas para la caracterización del instrumento y 6) la implantación del centro de procesado operacional de niveles 3 y 4 en el SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre, This work has been performed under research grants TEC2005-06863-C02-01/TCM, ESP2005-06823-C05 and ESP2007-65667-C04, AYA2008-05906-C02-01/ESP, AYA2010-22062-C05 and ESP2015-70014-C2-1-R, and EURYI 2004 award

Tesis (Magister en Aplicación de Información Espacial)--Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía, Física y Computación, 2018. Maestría conjunta con el Instituto de Altos Estudios Espaciales "Mario Gulich"- CONAE. Este trabajo, describe los lineamientos básicos para el estudio de procesos de remoción en masa utilizando teledetección. Se presentan tres casos en diferentes escenarios: El primero en el Sur del Tirol (Norte de Italia), el segundo en la isla El Hierro (Islas Canarias, España) y, el último en la ladera occidental de las Sierras Chicas (Córdoba, Argentina). Las técnicas a implementar consisten en: a) Fotointerpretación; b) Aplicación de interferometría de a pares para generar mapas de desplazamientos y c) Aplicación de interferometría multitemporal (Persistent Scatterer – PS), para analizar desplazamientos en series temporales. Dentro de los resultados, se lista el procedimiento para la generación de inventarios, específicamente tipo de capas vectoriales necesarias para su estudio mediante fotointerpretación: reconocimiento de procesos, tipo de roca, entre otros; comparación de técnicas y datos necesarios para la implementación de interferometría ya sea de a pares ó multitemporal; y características del área de interés, las cuales pueden afectar el resultado de desplazamiento obtenido. Se plasma el análisis en pautas, para ser utilizado en modo genérico, dentro de un servicio de monitoreo operativo de procesos de remoción en masa. This work describes the basic guidelines in order to study landslides using remote sensing. There are presented three test cases in different scenarios: The first one in South Tyrol (Northern Italy), the second one in El Hierro Island (Canary Islands, Spain), and the last one in Sierras Chicas (Córdoba, Argentina). Implemented techniques were: a) Photointerpretation, b) Interferometry between pairs to generate displacement maps and c) Multitemporal interferometry (Persistent Scatterer – PS) to analyze displacements in temporal series of SAR images. Results include a) inventory vector layers to be obtained from a photo-interpretation, i.e. process recognition and type of rock; b) requirements on both, data to be used in an interferometric analysis and on the characteristics of the area of interest which could affect the resulting displacement. From each studied case, learnt lesson were used to generate the guidelines to extract information to study a generic landslide case using remote sensing. The above generic approach was used to generate several guidelines to be used in a landslide operative monitoring service.

The on-demand tailoring of the properties of light, such as phase, polarization or spatial shape, has completely changed the landscape of photonic-based applications. In this way, complex light fields have become an ubiquitous tool in areas of research such as classical and quantum communications, optical tweezers and super-resolution microscopy, among many others. Here we will present some novel applications to optical metrology. First we will show how appropriate tailoring of the properties of light interacting with chiral molecules can enhance their chiral response by two orders of magnitude compared to circularly polarized light. As a second application, we will present a highly sensitive digital technique capable to measure layer thickness in the nanometer regime. This technique is interferometric in nature and contrary to others based on the same principle does not require the highly engineered construction of holders. Finally, we will describe a novel laser remote sensing technique that enables the direct measurement of the transverse component of velocity, a measure that up to now has relied in complicated techniques based on measurements of the longitudinal component of the velocity. This technique offers the possibility to also measure in a direct way the vorticity in fluids, a measure that is commonly measured through the curl of the fluid velocity.

The aim of Geostationary Synthetic Aperture Radar (GeoSAR) missions is to obtain daily images of events that take place over the Earth's surface. Some of them are critical to monitor (e.g. land stability control, natural risks prevention or accurate numerical weather prediction models from water vapour atmospheric mapping) since their fast evolution is not observable with current Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based systems. Thus, the fixed location of a geostationary satellite with respect to the Earth's surface may be used to permanent monitor the evolution of this kind of events. The term fixed is in quotation marks due to the geostationary satellite does not remain still. Some perturbations such as the forces exerted by the Earth's equatorial bulge, third bodies (e.g. the Moon or the Sun), etc., degrade the geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) enabling the satellite to describe an elliptical movement. Such path can consequently be used to form the Synthetic Aperture needed to obtain the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. The recent analysis of GeoSAR missions shows that the range history of every point of the scene during echo acquisitions must be known precisely in order to obtain focused images of the Earth's surface. Therefore, the orbit of the geostationary satellite must be known in an unprecedented precision (cm), which is far from typical repositioning of satellites in GEO orbits. In order to determine the satellite orbit precisely, two systems are presently being under research in GeoSAR missions: a group of Active Radar Calibrators (ARCs), and a ground-based interferometer system. This project will focus on the latter. The ground-based interferometer system makes use of the transmissions of present communication satellites located in GEO orbits to provide interferometric phase observations. Such observations can be used to calculate the satellite orbit with a certain precision. This project will discuss the precision outcome that two differential correction techniques ideally suited for orbit determination offer when using the interferometric phase observations. Such techniques are the Least Squares (LS) technique, and the extended Kalman filters (EKF). The performance of both techniques will be evaluated in different situations in order to obtain a complete overview of their precision outcome. Then, the error results of both techniques will be compared in order to determine the best technique to be used for orbit determination when a ground-based interferometer system is considered. Finally, this project will also address the absolute phase ambiguity resolution. Such issue is of special importance when dealing with interferometer systems since the LS and EKF techniques do not achieve convergence unless the absolute phase cycles of the transmitted signals are taken into account. Thus, the last chapter of this project will be devoted to explain a method to overcome the absolute phase ambiguity.

The final publication is available at link.springer.com via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11432-016-9052-y Future GeoSAR missions are expected to provide higher resolution radar images featuring shorter revisit times by locating a radar payload on-board of a geostationary satellite. One of the main challenges in GeoSAR processing is accurately determining the satellite orbit to obtain a precise phase history, in order to properly focus the retrieved data. To tackle this challenge, a multiple baseline ground-based interferometer is proposed as a compact and reliable method to achieve an unprecedented accuracy. As a proof of concept, this paper presents the results obtained from a single baseline prototype, whose results can be extrapolated to a larger system, able to be used in future missions.

The Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radiometer Performance Simulator (SAIRPS) has been a three-year project sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a completely generic end-to-end performance simulator of arbitrary synthetic aperture interferometric radiometers. In a companion manuscript (Part I), the Radiative Transfer Module used to generate synthetic fully polarimetric brightness temperatures from 1 to 100 GHz, including land and ocean covers, as well as the atmosphere, is described in detail. In this manuscript (Part II), the instrument model, the calibration procedure, and the imaging algorithms are described. The instrument model includes the simulation of the array topology in terms of the number of antenna elements, the time-dependent position and orientation, and the arbitrary receivers’ topology which can be modified from a very generic one by connecting and disconnecting subsystems. All the parameters can be, one by one, defined either by mathematical functions or by input data files, including the frequency and temperature dependence. Generic calibration algorithms including an external point source, the flat target transformation, and the two-level correlated noise injection are described. Finally, different image reconstruction algorithms suitable for arbitrary array topologies have also been implemented and tested. Simulation results have been validated and selected results are presented

The use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals for mesoscale altimetry was first proposed in [1]. Since then, many experiments and a couple of space missions have been carried out to validate the concept in multiple fields including not only ocean scenarios, but also land and ice [2]. The ensemble of these techniques is referred to as GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R). The most complete observable of these techniques is the so-called Delay Doppler Map (DDM), which is the 2D cross-correlation between the reflected signal and a reference one at different Doppler frequencies. In the conventional method (cGNSS-R), the reference signal is a clean replica of the transmitted one, whereas in the interferometric technique (iGNSS-R), the reference signal is the direct onesignal itself.

This paper proposes two different calibration techniques for Geostationary Synthetic Aperture Radar (GEOSAR) missions requiring a high precision positioning, based on Active Radar Calibrators and Ground Based Interferometry. The research is enclosed in the preparation studies of a future GEOSAR mission providing continuous monitoring at continental scale.

The Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radiometer Performance Simulator (SAIRPS) is a three-year project sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a completely generic end-to-end performance simulator of arbitrary synthetic aperture interferometric radiometers. This means, on one side, a generic radiative transfer module from 1 to 100 GHz, including land and ocean covers, as well as a fully 3D atmosphere and Faraday ionospheric rotation based on variable TEC. On the other hand, the instrument can have an arbitrary array topology (number of antenna elements, and their time-dependent position and orientation). Receivers’ topology can also be modified, starting from a very generic one to connecting and disconnecting subsystems, whose parameters can be individually configured. These parameters can be defined either by mathematical functions or by input data files, including the frequency and temperature dependence. Generic calibration and image reconstruction algorithms that are suitable for arbitrary array topologies have also been implemented, as well as tools to compute the instrument performance metrics, i.e., radiometric accuracy, sensitivity, angular resolution, etc. This manuscript presents the generic architecture of the SAIRPS, the algorithms implemented in the Radiative Transfer Module, and simulation results showing its performance. A companion manuscript (Part II) describes the instrument and calibration modelling, the image reconstruction algorithms, and the validation tests that were performed.

©2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. The 3CAT-2 nanosatellite aims at demonstrating global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R) techniques for spaceborne applications in the small form of a six-unit CubeSat. There are many challenges involved from a size, processing, and power perspectives. The proposed solution for the payload uses a software-defined radio (SDR) connected to a nadir looking array of dual-band and dual-frequency and dual-polarization antennas to capture the reflected GNSS signals and to a zenith looking patch antenna to capture the direct ones. The SDR is controlled by the payload computer, which retrieves the binary samples and processes the raw data to obtain delay-doppler maps (DDMs) via various techniques. DDMs are then compressed using the fully adaptive prediction error coder algorithm, producing an output more suitable for the limited downlink capabilities of these small platforms.

©2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Urban subsidence and landslides are among the greatest hazards for people and infrastructure safety and they require an especial attention to reduce their associated risks. In this framework, ground-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (GB-InSAR) represents a cost-effective solution for the precise monitoring of displacements. This work presents the application of GB-InSAR techniques, particularly with the RiskSAR sensor and its processing chain developed by the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSLab) of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), for the monitoring of two different types of ground displacement. An example of urban subsidence monitoring over the village of Sallent, northeastern of Spain, and an example of landslide monitoring in El Forn de Canillo, located in the Andorran Pyrenees, are presented. In this framework, the key processing particularities for each case are deeply analyzed and discussed. The linear displacement maps and time series for both scenarios are showed and compared with in-field data. For the study, fully polarimetric data acquired at X-band with a zero-baseline configuration are employed in both scenarios. The displacement results obtained demonstrate the capabilities of GB-SAR sensors for the precise monitoring of ground displacement phenomena.

“©2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. This paper proposes a new optimized multichannel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) configuration, based on receiving antennas with nonuniformly displaced phase centers, intended for ground moving target indication (GMTI) applications over maritime scenarios. This system is compared with current SAR missions, such as TerraSAR-X (TSX) or TanDEM-X (TDX). The GMTI capabilities of the different configurations are analyzed in a two-level performance approach. First, an intensive numerical simulation evaluation, based on Monte Carlo trials, is carried out in order to characterize the probabilities of detection under different system parameters and scenario conditions. Different GMTI techniques, i.e., displaced phase center antenna, along-track interferometry, and extended displaced phase center antenna, are assessed. In a second step, synthetic simulated SAR data, obtained in a study case scenario, is used to demonstrate the potential improvement of the proposed multichannel configuration compared with current SAR missions, providing subclutter visibility for maritime surveillance of small and slowly moving boats.

Soil moisture (SM) is a key parameter in the climate studies at a global scale and a very important parameter in applications such as precision agriculture at a local scale. The Global Navigation Satellite Systems Interference Pattern Technique (IPT) has proven to be a useful technique for the determination of SM, based on observations at vertical polarization (V-Pol) due to the Brewster angle. The IPT can be applied at both V-Pol and horizontal polarization (H-Pol) at the same time, observing the Brewster angle only at V-Pol. This letter presents a measurement technique based on tracking the phase difference between V-Pol and H-Pol interference patterns to improve the accuracy of the Brewster angle determination and, consequently, that of the SM retrievals. This technique benefits from the different phase behavior of the reflection coefficients between H-Pol and V-Pol in the angular observation range. To be sensitive to the phase difference, the Rayleigh criterion for smooth surfaces must be accomplished. This technique is not sensitive to topography as it is intrinsically corrected. Experimental results are presented to validate the proposed algorithm.

In this paper, the performance of a nearly zero inclination and low eccentricity geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar (GEOSAR) mission for midlatitude (30 $^{\circ}$ –60 $^{\circ}$ ) Earth observation is analyzed. The slow motion of such satellites with respect to the Earth's surface makes it necessary to consider long coherent combination of pulses during hours to reach the desired along-track resolution. A system based on moderate transmitted powers and antenna sizes is considered. The necessary sensitivity in such GEOSAR system is obtained from the accumulated energy of the raw data using a pulse repetition frequency above the Doppler bandwidth and a long integration time. Several issues as a result of the long acquisition, such as target and atmospheric phase screen decorrelation, speckle noise impact on the received signal, and satellite station-keeping requirements, are analyzed. The feasibility of such systems to be placed on a broadcasting communication satellite makes nearly zero inclination GEOSAR a low-cost alternative of current SAR missions.

This paper describes the Microwave Interferometric Reflectometer (MIR) instrument back-end for GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) applications. MIR uses the interferometric (iGNSS-R) and conventional (cGNSS-R) techniques for altimetry and scatterometric observations. MIR is intended for low altitude aircrafts, and can track up to 4 pairs of satellite/reflection points simultaneously. The back-end computes real-time 2D cross-correlations in the delay/Doppler plane and performs incoherent averaging after proper delay and Doppler tracking. Initial results from ground measurements are shown.

In this paper, a new model-based technique for the compensation of severe height-dependent atmospheric artifacts, using ground-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data over mountainous regions, is proposed. The method presented represents an extension of already existing techniques, but now taking into account the effect of steep topography in the atmospheric phase screen compensation process. In addition, the technique is adapted to work with polarimetric SAR data, showing, in that case, a noticeable improvement in the compensation process. The method is validated in the mountainous environment of El Forn de Canillo, located in the Andorran Pyrenees, where there is a slow-moving landslide that nowadays is being reactivated coinciding with strong rain episodes. In this framework, ten zero-baseline fully polarimetric data sets have been acquired at X-band during a one-year measurement campaign (October 2010-October 2011) with the GB-SAR sensor developed at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. First, the impact of the severe atmospheric fluctuations among multitemporal GB-SAR measurements is carefully studied and analyzed. Hence, the need to correctly estimate and compensate the resulting phase differences when retrieving interferometric information is put forward in the frame of differential-SAR-interferometry applications.

This paper provides a wrap-up of some of the activities undertaken by SMOS L1 team to fine tune the instrument calibration and modeling that eventually has resulted into a SMOS full-polarimetric measurement and image reconstruction enhanced performance

This paper investigates the validity of the random-volume-over-ground (RVoG) scattering model assumption for forest scattering on polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PolInSAR) data. The model makes some assumptions about the data and the structure of coherency matrices, namely, the equality of the polarimetric covariance matrices and the affine equivalence of the contracted polarimetric interferometric covariance matrix with a Hermitian matrix. The proposed methodology is divided into two main steps. First, invertible affine transforms (ATs) are studied and proposed as a tool to operate with coherence regions. Based on this analysis, the concept of the trace matrix is introduced as its rank depends on the RVoG model assumption validity. Then, with the objective to consider the effects of speckle noise, we consider a maximum-likelihood (ML) framework, on the hypothesis of data distributed according to the complex Gaussian distribution. Hence, we define the ML estimator (MLE) of the PolInSAR coherency matrix according to the RVoG model assumption and the generalized likelihood ratio test of the model. The validity tests and the MLE are analyzed in terms of simulated and real PolInSAR data, considering P-band and L-band data over tropical and boreal forests.

Nowadays, several global navigation satellite system (GNSS) services coexist at L-band and some more will be available in the near future. These new signals were originally conceived to enhance the location accuracy, but they also offer a promising opportunity for improved GNSS-reflectometry (GNSS-R) retrievals. This work gives closed form expressions for GNSS-R waveform simulation using the composite GPSL1 and L5 and Galileo E1, E5, and E6 signals as function of the receiver bandwidth. The impact of the observation geometry and sea state on the waveform shape is studied in airborne and spaceborne conditions. Finally, the altimetric height bias using the derivative method is analyzed as function of the receiver bandwidth.

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals offer a promising opportunity to perform mesoscale altimetry with worldwide coverage using small satellites. However, unlike the signals used in classical altimeters, the GNSS signals have smaller bandwidth and lower transmitted power. This paper analyzes the achievable height precision of the Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) altimeters based on the Cramer-Rao bound for time-delay estimation. Precision bounds for the composite signals GPS L1 and L5 and Galileo E1, E5, and E6 in a spaceborne mission scenario are assessed, and the optimum receiver bandwidths which minimize them are obtained.

This paper develops an analysis of the SAR impulse response function from the interferometric point of view, with the intention of studying its phase behavior in the presence of high squint angle values. It will be pointed out that in this case, a phase ramp is present in the range direction, which, in combination with a certain degree of misregistration between the two images induces an offset in the generated interferometric phase. This behavior, if not compensated, imposes strong limits on the performance of the interferometric techniques in a squinted case, especially for airborne SAR systems. The article proposes two new techniques, which are appropriate to correct the phase bias coming from this source. The first one is based on a modification of the azimuth compression filter, which cancels the phase ramp of the range impulse response function for one specific squint value. In case the SAR processing is performed with variable squint over range, the authors propose a second method oriented to estimating the expected misregistration and thus, the phase bias by means of an iterative approach. Simulated data as well as real corner reflector responses are used to show that the correct topography can be recovered precisely even in the presence of phase bias coming from the squinted geometry.

10 pages, 14 figures, 1 tabl3, The local oscillators (LOs) of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission payload are used to shift the operating frequency of the 72 receivers to an optimal intermediate frequency needed for the signal processing. The LO temperature variations produce phase errors in the visibility, which result in a blurring of the reconstructed brightness temperature (Tb) image. At the end of the commissioning phase, it was decided to calibrate the LO every 10 min while waiting for a more in-depth analysis. During short periods of time, the LO calibration has been performed every 2 min to assess the impact of a higher calibration rate on the quality of the data. In this paper, by means of a decimation experiment, the relative errors of 6- and 10-min calibration interval data sets are estimated using the 2 min as a reference. A noticeable systematic across- and along-track pattern of amplitude $pm$0.3 K is observed for Tb differences between 10 and 2 min, whereas this is reduced between 6 and 2 min. A simulation experiment confirms that the nature of such systematic pattern is due to the visibility phase errors induced by the LO calibration rate. Such pattern is propagated into the sea surface salinity (SSS) retrievals. Overall, the SSS error increase (relative to the 2 min SSS data) is about 0.39 and 0.14 psu for the 10- and 6-min data sets, respectively. This paper shows that a LO calibration rate of at least 6 min would noticeably improve the SSS retrievals, The SMOS Level 2 Prototype Processor development was funded by the European Space Agency under different contracts

In the last years, the GPS signals have been validated as opportunity signals in a wide range of reflectometry-based remote sensing applications for sea, land or ice scenarios. Recently, the first Galileo satellites have started transmitting the new signal E1, which shares the band with the GPS L1 signal. This work compares the performance of both signals in space and airborne scenarios for sea state and altimetry determination.

This work has been conducted in the framework of several projects devoted to assess the performance of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission full-pol measurement mode. Since its launch in November 2009, SMOS is producing dual-polarization brightness temperature synthesized images that are yielding a high scientific return. However, these images are affected by a non-negligible spatial amplitude error, the so-called spatial bias (SB), that degrades geophysical parameter retrieval. This effect is particularly detrimental in SMOS polarimetric images where spatial bias is masking the polarimetric physical signature to a large extend. This paper presents a method to mitigate SMOS spatial bias by taking into account the co-and cross-polar antenna patterns in the image reconstruction algorithm through the, so called, full-pol G-matrix (FPG). The method is validated by producing spatial bias maps out of the comparison between SMOS full-pol images and an accurate polarimetric brightness temperature model of the ocean. This model has been provided to SMOS ESLs (Expert Support Laboratories) by LOCEAN (Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat, France) as a test bench to validate and improve SMOS Level 1 (L1) data. Finally, a radiometric performance summary table comparing spatial bias and radiometric sensitivity between this new FPG approach and SMOS current co-polar G-matrix approach (CPG) is provided. This paper presents the best quality SMOS polarimetric images, which may lead a breakthrough in the science returns of the mission.

Capability for sea surface salinity observation was an important gap in ocean remote sensing in the last few decades of the 20th century. New technological developments during the 1990s at the European Space Agency led to the proposal of SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), an Earth explorer opportunity mission based on the use of a microwave interferometric radiometer, MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis). SMOS, the first satellite ever addressing the observation of ocean salinity from space, was successfully launched in November 2009. The determination of salinity from the MIRAS radiometric measurements at 1.4 GHz is a complex procedure that requires high performance from the instrument and accurate modelling of several physical processes that impact on the microwave emission of the ocean’s surface. This paper introduces SMOS in the ocean remote sensing context, and summarizes the MIRAS principles of operation and the SMOS salinity retrieval approach. It describes the Spanish SMOS high-level data processing centre (CP34) and the SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre on Radiometric Calibration and Ocean Salinity (SMOS-BEC), and presents a preliminary validation of global sea surface salinity maps operationally produced by CP34., La imposibilidad de observar la salinidad superficial del mar desde el espacio era uno de los problemas importantes para la teledetección oceánica a finales del siglo XX. Nuevos desarrollos tecnológicos durante los años 90 en la Agencia Espacial Europea llevaron a formular la propuesta de SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), una misión de oportunidad de observación de la Tierra basada en un radiómetro interferométrico de microondas, MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis). SMOS, el primer satélite que intenta observar la salinidad desde el espacio, fue lanzado en noviembre de 2009. La determinación de salinidad a partir de las mediciones de MIRAS a 1,4 GHz es un procedimiento complejo que requiere un excelente funcionamiento del instrumento y una modelización muy precisa de los procesos físicos que intervienen en la emisión de la superficie del océano en el dominio de las microondas. Este artículo presenta SMOS en el contexto de la teledetección oceánica, y resume los principios de operación de MIRAS y el enfoque utilizado en SMOS para obtener la salinidad. Describe el Centro español de Proceso de datos SMOS de alto nivel (CP34) y el Centro Experto SMOS en Barcelona para Calibración Radiométrica y Salinidad Oceánica (SMOS-BEC), así como presenta una primera validación de los mapas globales de salinidad superficial producidos operacionalmente por el CP34.

Proyecto basado en la aplicación de diferentes estrategias de procesado mediante la técnica interferométrica. El objetivo es el de obtener una mayor cantidad de puntos de medida en zonas no urbanas donde la decorrelación temporal es muy alta. [ANGLÈS] Project based on the application of different processing strategies using the interferometric technique. The objective is to obtain a greater number of measuring points in non-urban areas where the temporal decorrelation is very high. [CASTELLÀ] Proyecto basado en la aplicación de diferentes estrategias de procesado mediante la técnica interferométrica. El objetivo es el de obtener una mayor cantidad de puntos de medida en zonas no urbanas donde la decorrelación temporal es muy alta. [CATALÀ] Projecte fonamentat en l'aplicació de diferents estratègies de processament mijançant la tècnica interferomètrica. L'objectiu és el d'obtenir una major quantitat de punts de mesura en zones on la decorrelació temporal és molt alta.

Jordi Font... et al. Special volume: Advances in Spanish physical oceanography. Scientia Marina 76(Suppl.1) 2012.-- 11 pages, 6 figures, [EN] Capability for sea surface salinity observation was an important gap in ocean remote sensing in the last few decades of the 20th century. New technological developments during the 1990s at the European Space Agency led to the proposal of SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), an Earth explorer opportunity mission based on the use of a microwave interferometric radiometer, MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis). SMOS, the first satellite ever addressing the observation of ocean salinity from space, was successfully launched in November 2009. The determination of salinity from the MIRAS radiometric measurements at 1.4 GHz is a complex procedure that requires high performance from the instrument and accurate modelling of several physical processes that impact on the microwave emission of the ocean’s surface. This paper introduces SMOS in the ocean remote sensing context, and summarizes the MIRAS principles of operation and the SMOS salinity retrieval approach. It describes the Spanish SMOS high-level data processing centre (CP34) and the SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre on Radiometric Calibration and Ocean Salinity (SMOS-BEC), and presents a preliminary validation of global sea surface salinity maps operationally produced by CP34, [ES] La imposibilidad de observar la salinidad superficial del mar desde el espacio era uno de los problemas importantes para la teledetección oceánica a finales del siglo XX. Nuevos desarrollos tecnológicos durante los años 90 en la Agencia Espacial Europea llevaron a formular la propuesta de SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), una misión de oportunidad de observación de la Tierra basada en un radiómetro interferométrico de microondas, MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis). SMOS, el primer satélite que intenta observar la salinidad desde el espacio, fue lanzado en noviembre de 2009. La determinación de salinidad a partir de las mediciones de MIRAS a 1,4 GHz es un procedimiento complejo que requiere un excelente funcionamiento del instrumento y una modelización muy precisa de los procesos físicos que intervienen en la emisión de la superficie del océano en el dominio de las microondas. Este artículo presenta SMOS en el contexto de la teledetección oceánica, y resume los principios de operación de MIRAS y el enfoque utilizado en SMOS para obtener la salinidad. Describe el Centro español de Proceso de datos SMOS de alto nivel (CP34) y el Centro Experto SMOS en Barcelona para Calibración Radiométrica y Salinidad Oceánica (SMOS-BEC), así como presenta una primera validación de los mapas globales de salinidad superficial producidos operacionalmente por el CP34, This paper is a contribution to the MIDAS-5 and MIDAS-6 projects, Spanish grants ESP2007-65667-C04 and AYA2010-22062-C05. The CP34 development and installation, as well as its initial operations activity, was funded from 2005 through a series of research grants (MIDAS, Microwave measurements and algorithms development for the SMOS mission) from the Spanish R+D National Plan, which were also the main source of funding for SMOS-BEC activities

English: Study of the uses of orbital polarimetric data for the survey of terrain subsidence through SAR Differential interferometry (DInSAR). Castellano: Estudio del uso de datos polarimetricos orbitales para la monitorizació de la subsidencia del terreno mediante Interferometría Diferencial SAR (DInSAR) Català: Estudi de l'ús de dades polarimetriques orbitals per la monitorització de la subsidència del terreny mitjançant Interferometria diferencial SAR (DInSAR).

• Introduction to Differential Interferometry • Orbital Sensors: ERS, ENVISAT, RADARSAT2, TerraSAR-X. • Airborne Sensors: DLR’s E-SAR • Ground-Based Sensors: UPC’s GB-SAR • Conclusions

Bightness-temperature retrieval techniques for synthetic aperture radiometers are reviewed. Three different approaches to combine measured visibility and antenna temperatures, along with instrument characterization data, into a general equation to invert are presented. Discretization and windowing techniques are briefly discussed, and formulas for reciprocal grids using rectangular and hexagonal samplings are given. Two known techniques are used to invert the equation, namely, inverse Fourier transform and G-matrix pseudoinverse. The proposed preprocessing approaches combined with these two inversion methods are implemented with real data measured by an airborne Y-shaped interferometric radiometer over land and water, and are compared. The images indicate that best results are obtained when inverting an incremental visibility obtained after substracting a term that includes the individual antenna temperatures, the physical temperatures of the receivers, and a flat-target response directly measured from cold-sky looks.

The on-ground characterization of the synthetic aperture radiometer onboard the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission is described. Characterization includes basic functionality, internal calibration, thermal cycling, response to point and flat sources, self-radio-frequency interference, and others. The description of the different tests performed as well as the detailed results are provided. The results show that the instrument is very stable and has all gains and offsets consistent with the ones obtained at subsystem level. On the other hand, the phase of the visibility has a larger variation with temperature than expected, a small signal leakage from the local oscillators is present, and a small interference from the X-band transmitter during short periods of time has been detected. The implementation of internal-calibration procedures, along with the accurate thermal characterization performed, have been used to produce highly accurate brightness-temperature values well within specifications.

This paper reviews the relative calibration of an interferometric radiometer taking into account the experimental results of the first batch of receivers developed in the frame of the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission. Measurements show state-of-the-art baseline performance as long as the system is capable of correcting the effect of orbital temperature swing. A method to validate internal calibration during in-orbit deep-sky views and to correct linearity errors is also presented.

A coherence optimization method, which makes use of polarimetry to enhance the quality of the interferograms, has been experimentally tested under laboratory conditions in an anechoic chamber. The experiments have proved the remarkable contribution that this technique offers in two important applications: the improvement of digital elevation maps (DEM) generation and the estimation of the height of vegetation targets

“©2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Ground-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) (GB-SAR) sensors represent an effective solution for the monitoring of ground displacement episodes. Initially, the most GB-SAR sensors were based on vector network analyzers (VNA). This type of solution, characterized by a slow scanning time comparable to the decorrelation of the troposphere medium, compromised in many cases the quality of final products for the application of persistent scatterer interferomerty (PSI) techniques. The development of GB-SAR sensors based on the use of stepped linear frequency modulated continuous wave (SLFMCW) signals has led to significant improvements during the last years. They have allowed fulfilling the need of temporal homogeneity of the troposphere during the acquisition time and, moreover, they have favored the acquisition of reliable polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) measurements without drastically increasing the scanning time. This fact has boosted the inclusion of polarimetric SAR interferometry (PolInSAR) algorithms in PSI processing chains, which are demonstrating to outperform classical single-polarimetric performances. The objective of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, a general overview of the polarimetric RiskSAR sensor, developed by the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), is put forward as an example of SLFMCW GB-SAR system implementation. On the other hand, a complete theoretical description of ground-based SAR (GB-SAR) interferometry (GB-InSAR) techniques for PSI purposes is widely discussed. The adaptation of the Coherent Pixels Technique to obtain the linear and nonlinear components of ground displacement phenomena is proposed. In the second part of this paper, the displacement maps and time series over two very different scenarios are presented in order to show the feasibility of GB-SAR sensors for terrain displacement monitoring applications.

The recent use of along-track interferometry (ATI) in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has shown promise for synoptic measurement of ocean surface currents. ATI-SARs have been used to estimate wave fields, currents, and current features. This paper describes and analyzes a dual-beam along-track interferometer to provide spatially resolved vector surface velocity estimates with a single pass of an aircraft. The design employs a pair of interferometer beams, one squinted forward and one squinted aft. Each interferometric phase is sensitive to the component of surface Doppler velocity in the direction of the beam. Therefore, a proper combination of these measurements provides a vector surface velocity estimate in one pass of the aircraft. The authors find that precise measurements dictate widely spaced beams and that the spatial resolution for the squinted SAR is essentially identical to the sidelooking case. Practical instrument design issues are discussed, and an airborne system currently in development is described. Through computer simulation, they observe the azimuthal displacement of interferometric phases by moving surfaces identical to those of conventional SAR and find that such displacement can bias the estimated surface velocity.

The spatial resolution of current space-borne Earth observation radiometers is limited by the physical antenna aperture. This is especially critical at L-band, which exhibits high sensitivity to soil moisture and sea surface salinity. Interferometric radiometers (InR's) are currently being studied by several space agencies as a feasible alternative to overcome this problem. However, their calibration is a crucial issue since most techniques inherited from radio astronomy cannot be directly applied. Due to the large number of receiving channels, calibration techniques based on centralized noise injection from a single noise source will require a large and stable distribution network, which is technically very complex and unacceptable from the point-of-view of mass and volume. Procedures based on distributed noise injection from a set of noise sources through smaller distribution networks have been recently proposed by the authors as an alternative to alleviate these technological problems. In this paper, the analysis of these networks, the impact of the noise generated by the network losses on the calibration, and the impact of front-end reradiated noise are analyzed. Finally, the optimum circuit topologies and tolerances to which these networks have to be characterized in order to achieve the required calibration are derived. These configurations are formed by cascading basic 1:2 and 1:3 isolated power splitters. Isolators at receiver inputs have to be included in order to minimize offsets originating from the correlation of reradiation of receiver noise. It has been found that, in order to satisfy the calibration requirements of InR's, the S-parameters of the ensemble noise-injection network plus isolators have to be known to within 0.025-0.050 dB in amplitude and 0.5° in phase, and their physical temperature known to within 0.5°C.

This paper presents a new method for receiver calibration of interferometric radiometers. It is based on the distributed noise injection mechanism and it consists of fully calibrating the baseline error terms of the central antennas (which share the same noise source) while keeping only separable error calibration for the distant ones. This improves the accuracy of the shortest baselines, which are the most significant ones due to the smoothness of the brightness temperature to measure. Simulations show that, compared to previously reported methods, the improvement on the radiometric resolution can be as high as 3.9. The robustness against frequency response mismatch between receivers is improved by a factor 2.9.

Projecte realitzat en el marc d’un programa de mobilitat amb la Electrical and Computer Engineering de la University of Massachusetts, Amherst [ANGLÈS] Radar interferometry is a remote sensing technique that consists in transmitting a signal and measuring the phase difference of the reflected signal between two antennas separated by a baseline. This phase difference can be used to estimate the topographic height of the target. The height accuracy is limited by the ability to accurately measure the phase difference. The objective of this thesis is to develop and test a Ka-band dual downconverter and upconverter for an interferometer, specially the phase performance of the downconverter and how it is affected by the temperature. This interferometer will be used in NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, that will map the water elevation on Earth. [CASTELLÀ] La interferometría radar es una técnica de detección remota que consiste en transmitir una señal y medir la diferencia de fase de la señal reflejada entre dos antenas separadas una distancia conocida. Esta diferencia de fase se puede utilizar para calcular la altura topográfica del objetivo. La precisión de la altura está limitada por la capacidad de medir con precisión la diferencia de fase. El objetivo de esta tesis es desarrollar y probar un conversor descendente y ascendente dual en banda Ka para un interferómetro, especialmente el rendimiento de la fase del conversor descendente y cómo es afectado por la temperatura. Este interferómetro se utilizará en la "Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission" de la NASA, que trazará un mapa de la elevación del agua de la Tierra. [CATALÀ] La interferometria radar és una tècnica de detecció remota que consisteix a transmetre un senyal i mesurar la diferència de fase del senyal reflectit entre dues antenes separades una distància coneguda. Aquesta diferència de fase es pot utilitzar per calcular l'altura topogràfica de l'objectiu. La precisió de l'alçada està limitada per la capacitat de mesurar amb precisió la diferència de fase. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és desenvolupar i provar un convertidor descendent i ascendent dual en banda Ka per a un interferòmetre, especialment el rendiment de la fase del convertidor descendent i com és afectat per la temperatura. Aquest interferòmetre s'utilitzarà en la "Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission" de la NASA, que traçarà un mapa de l'elevació de l'aigua de la Terra.