Cross-polarization Ratio Research Articles

How Phenology Shapes Crop-Specific Sentinel-1 PolSAR Features and InSAR Coherence across Multiple Years and Orbits

Spatial information about plant health and productivity are essential when assessing the progress towards Sustainable Development Goals such as life on land and zero hunger. Plant health and productivity are strongly linked to a plant’s phenological progress. Remote sensing, and since the launch of Sentinel-1 (S1), specifically, radar-based frameworks have been studied for the purpose of monitoring phenological development. This study produces insights into how crop phenology shapes S1 signatures of PolSAR features and InSAR coherence of wheat, canola, sugar beet. and potato across multiple years and orbits. Hereby, differently smoothed time series and a base line of growing degree days are stacked to estimate the patterns of occurrence of extreme values and break points. These patterns are then linked to in situ observations of phenological developments. The comparison of patterns across multiple orbits and years reveals that a single optimized fit hampers the tracking capacities of an entire season monitoring framework, as does the sole reliance on extreme values. VV and VH backscatter intensities outperform all other features, but certain combinations of phenological stage and crop type are better covered by a complementary set of PolSAR features and coherence. With regard to PolSAR features, alpha and entropy can be replaced by the cross-polarization ratio for tracking certain stages. Moreover, a range of moderate incidence angles is better suited for monitoring crop phenology. Also, wheat and canola are favored by a late afternoon overpass. In sum, this study provides insights into phenological developments at the landscape level that can be of further use when investigating spatial and temporal variations within the landscape.

Complementary split resonant ring inspired wide-angle frequency-scanning patch array leaky-wave antenna with open-stopband suppression

In this paper, a wide-angle scanning and dual-linearly polarized leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is proposed based on symmetrical complementary split resonant ring (CSRR) feeding lines. The CSRR excites high-dispersed spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) and is inspired to enlarge the scanning angle of the circular patch array antenna. The coupling between CSRR and circular patch determines the unit cell dispersion characteristics of LWA, and the coupling between CSRR and circular patch is controlled by designing their respective periods, p/b, to suppress the open-stopband and reduce the grating lobe, The value of p/b controls the frequency range of the open-stopband. Two parallel CSRR feeding lines are located on the bottom layer of the antenna and feed the array antenna of 11 circular patches above the feeding layer with both differential and common modes excitations. The two modes switch with 1-bit phase shifters on the two parallel feeding lines fed with a Wilkinson power splitter and electronically switch dual-linearly polarized radiations. The proposed scenario of the LWA prototype is validated through simulations and experiments. According to the measurements, horizontally polarized radiation achieves large beam scanning angle from −59.5° to +40° in the frequency range from 8 to 11 GHz with common mode excitation. And vertically polarized radiation scanning the main beam from −47° to +41° in the frequency range from 7.8 to 10.8 GHz with differential-mode excitation. The measured peak gains of the two polarizations are 14.4 dBi and 14.2 dBi, respectively, and the cross-polarization ratios are above 21 dB.

NDVI estimation using Sentinel-1 data over wheat fields in a semiarid Mediterranean region

ABSTRACT Annual crop monitoring is a key parameter for managing agricultural strategies. Several studies have relied on remote sensing products such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a vegetation dynamic metric. However, the dependence of optical data on weather conditions limits its availability. In this study, we reconstruct the NDVI time series of wheat fields using the moving averages of the Sentinel-1 normalized VH/VV cross-polarization ratio (IN) and the interferometric coherence in VV polarization over wheat selected fields in a semiarid site in Tunisia during two seasons, from 2018 to 2020. The crop cycle is divided into two periods: before and after the heading phase, which occurs in approximately the middle of March. Due to the volume-scattering impact, the second phase is divided into the ripening and maturation phase (NDVI ≥0.4) and senescence phase (NDVI <0.4). To estimate the NDVI values, different methods are used: curve-fitting equations and machine learning regressors such as the random forest (RF) and the support vector regressor (SVR). Low root mean square error (RMSE) values characterize NDVI estimation during the first period. In the second period, the RMSE values reach 0.06 when the NDVI is lower than 0.4. When the NDVI values exceed 0.4 in the second period, lower accuracy marks the NDVI estimation using the curve-fitting equations as a function of IN or coherence. Relative low accuracy characterizes the regression algorithms’ estimations when NDVI ≥ 0.4 compared to their performance during the aforementioned periods. The proposed approach was tested on different wheat fields. The NDVI estimations are characterized by RMSE values varying between 0.12 and 0.19. The use of RF and SVR outperformed the curve-fitting methods with an RMSE equal to 0.12. The present findings revealed the high accuracy of the proposed approach to estimate the missing values of wheat fields NDVI values during the vegetation development period until heading and the senescence phase. The presence of the mutual effect of the vegetation water content and its volume complicated the NDVI estimation using the C-band data.

Estimating snow depth based on dual polarimetric radar index from Sentinel-1 GRD data: A case study in the Scandinavian Mountains

The sensitivity of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) polarization information to snow depth changes provides new opportunities for regional snow depth retrieval in mountains with thick snow cover. However, interference from soil signals can affect the accurate quantification of snow volume scattering signals. The aim of this study was to develop a dual-polarimetric radar snow depth estimation (DpRSE) methodological framework that utilizes Sentinel-1 data for snow depth retrieval in the Scandinavian Mountains. This framework is based on the dual-polarimetric radar vegetation index (DpRVIc), which enhances the snow volume scattering signal and reduces soil interference by integrating soil purity and a conditioning factor to fully exploit the advantages of polarimetric SAR information. The results revealed a strong correlation between the DpRVIc and snow depth, and the DpRVIc significantly outperformed the other polarimetric radar indices. The multitemporal retrieval results clearly reflect the heterogeneity of the snow depth distribution. This method is applicable to areas without tree cover. Meanwhile, the shrub-filled regions also affect the snow depth retrieval accuracy. Under the same environmental conditions and using the same validation dataset, a comparison between the DpRSE method and the cross-polarization ratio method was conducted. The results indicated that the DpRSE method surpasses similar existing methods in terms of snow depth retrieval accuracy. Specifically, the coefficient of determination (R2) for the DpRSE method reached 0.66, which represents a 26.9 % improvement over that of the cross-polarization ratio method. Moreover, the mean absolute error (MAE) decreased by 20 %. This study offers a novel perspective on SAR snow depth retrieval utilizing polarization information.

Enhanced post-wildfire vegetation recovery in prescribed-burnt Mediterranean shrubland: A regional assessment

The primary objective of prescribed burning (PB) treatment is to promote increased ecosystem resistance to high fire severity and ecosystem adaptive resilience after unplanned wildfires under worsening climates. Yet, empirical evidence involving regional-scale assessments with enough spatial representativeness on how vegetation will respond to PB-wildfire interactions in Mediterranean shrublands is absent. This is particularly relevant to provide comprehensive insights on the effectiveness of PB policies and programs in southern European countries, where shrublands are the main PB target. Here, we investigated the PB effect on vegetation responses in the short-term (1–3 years) after subsequent wildfire encounters in Mediterranean shrublands at the regional scale across mainland Portugal. We leveraged geospatial cloud-computing platforms and remote sensing data (optical and synthetic aperture radar -SAR-) and techniques with physical basis to procure reliable proxies for vegetation fractional cover (FCOVER), vigor (normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI) and structural complexity (cross-polarization ratio of C-band SAR backscatter data; SAR-CR) at the landscape scale throughout the time series. The role of site productivity and topographic configuration variables as putative drivers of vegetation responses was also analyzed. We found that the mitigating effect of PB on wildfire severity translated into stronger vegetation responses in treated areas than in untreated counterparts after the first PB-wildfire encounter. Although FCOVER, NDVI and SAR-CR recovered gradually in both areas, the recovery rate was markedly higher in PB-treated areas 3-years after the PB-wildfire encounter than at earlier times in the time series. The effect of PB treatment was stronger for the FCOVER recovery response than for NDVI and SAR-CR. The effect of the PB treatment on FCOVER and NDVI responses was modulated by site environmental characteristics, such that their differences between PB-treated and untreated counterparts were maximal for both higher altitudes and warmer, drier locations in the landscape.

Designing ultra-broadband terahertz polarization converters based on the transformer model

Polarization, a fundamental property of terahertz (THz) waves, can be controlled using metasurfaces for signal transmission and sensitive measurements. However, conventional methods for designing polarization-conversion metasurfaces require numerous numerical simulation iterations and trial and error attempts that are computationally intensive and time-consuming, necessitating a more rapid and efficient approach. This study proposes a transformer-based method for the inverse design of terahertz polarization converters; the approach can accurately design the corresponding metasurface based on the target spectrum. The model also comprises a forward network that can precisely and intuitively predict the meta-atoms spectra with high simulation speed and reduced computational cost. Using this approach, two ultra-broadband polarization conversion devices were designed in approximately 0.006 s within a target frequency range of 0.5–4 THz, with polarization conversion ratios greater than 90% within 1.23–3.19 THz and 1.18–3.24 THz. Additionally, the average cross-polarization ratio was greater than 50%. This study provides insights into designing terahertz polarization converters, which are applicable in terahertz communications, polarization imaging, and biomedical procedures.

Evaluating the Ability of the Sentinel-1 Cross-Polarization Ratio to Detect Spring Maize Phenology Using Adaptive Dynamic Threshold

Accurate, timely, and fine-resolution crop phenology is essential for determining the optimal timing of agronomic management practices supporting precision agriculture and food security. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) methods, unaffected by cloud occlusion, have been widely applied in monitoring maize phenology. Nonetheless, their reliance on manual threshold settings, which depend on the user’s expertise, limits their applicability. Furthermore, the neglect of SAR’s potential for monitoring other phenological periods (e.g., seven-leaves date (V7), jointing date (JD), tassel date (TD), and milky date (MID)) hinders their robustness, particularly for regional-scale applications. To address these issues, this study used an adaptive dynamic threshold to evaluate the ability of the Sentinel-1 cross-polarization ratio (CR) in detecting the three-leaves date (V3), V7, JD, TD, MID, and maturity date (MD) of maize. We analyzed the effect of incidence angle, precipitation, and wind speed on Sentinel-1 features to identify the optimal feature for time series fitting. Then, we employed linear regression to determine the optimal threshold and developed an adaptive dynamic threshold for phenology detection. This approach effectively mitigated the speckle noise of Sentinel-1 and minimized artificial interference caused by customary conventional thresholds. Finally, we mapped phenology across 8.3 million ha in Heilongjiang Province. The results indicated that the approach has a higher ability to detect JD (RMSE = 11.10 d), MID (RMSE = 10.31 d), and MD (RMSE = 9.41 d) than that of V3 (RMSE = 32.07 d), V7 (RMSE = 56.37 d), and TD (RMSE = 43.33 d) in Sentinel-1. Compared with Sentinel-2, the average RMSE of JD, MID, and MD decreased by 4.14%, 35.28%, and 26.48%. Moreover, when compared to different thresholds, the adaptive dynamic threshold can quickly determine the optimal threshold for detecting each phenological stage. CR is least affected by incident angle, precipitation, and wind speed, effectively suppressing noise to reflect phenological development better. This approach supports the rapid and feasible mapping of maize phenology across broad spatial regions with a few samples.

Sea Ice Detection from RADARSAT-2 Quad-Polarization SAR Imagery Based on Co- and Cross-Polarization Ratio

Sea Ice Detection from RADARSAT-2 Quad-Polarization SAR Imagery Based on Co- and Cross-Polarization Ratio

Monitoring Diesel Spills in Freezing Seawater under Windy Conditions Using C-Band Polarimetric Radar

The risk of oil spills in the Arctic is growing rapidly as anthropogenic activities increase due to climate-driven sea ice loss. Detecting and monitoring fuel spills in the marine environment is imperative for enacting an efficient response to mitigate the risk. Microwave radar systems can be used to address this issue; therefore, we examined the potential of C-band polarimetric radar for detecting diesel fuel in freezing seawater under windy environmental conditions. We present results from a mesocosm experiment, where we introduced diesel fuel to a seawater-filled cylindrical tub at the Sea-ice Environmental Research Facility (SERF), University of Manitoba. We characterized the temporal evolution of the diesel-contaminated seawater and sea ice by monitoring the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) and polarimetric parameters (i.e., copolarization ratio (Rco), cross-polarization ratio (Rxo), entropy (H), mean-alpha (α), conformity coefficient (μ), and copolarization correlation coefficient (ρco)) at 20° and 25° incidence angles. Three stages were identified, with notably different NRCS and polarimetric results, related to the thermophysical conditions. The transition from calm conditions to windy conditions was detected by the 25° incidence angle, whereas the transition from open water to sea ice was more apparent at 20°. The polarimetric analysis demonstrated that the conformity coefficient can have distinctive sensitivities to the presence of wind and sea ice at different incidence angles. The H versus α scatterplot showed that the range of distribution is dependent upon wind speed, incidence angle, and oil product. The findings of this study can be used to further improve the capability of existing and future C-band dual-polarization radar satellites or drone systems to detect and monitor potential diesel spills in the Arctic, particularly during the freeze-up season.

Synthetic aperture radar polarised backscattering behaviour in partially inundated agricultural fields

ABSTRACT A methodology for classifying rainfed paddy fields based on their hydrological conditions is lacking. This study analysed the behaviour of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter coefficients at each polarisation and cross-polarisation ratio index in a rainfed rice paddy field with a partially waterlogged surface. The SAR polarisations used were the VH and VV of the C-band SAR Sentinel-1 and the HV and HH of the L-band SAR Palsar-2. The relationship between backscatter coefficient and terrains including topographic categories and local relative elevation, which affect waterlogging conditions in rainfed paddy fields, were evaluated. The VV of C-band, and HH and HV of L-band showed different patterns in the time series variation according to the topographic categories. We observed that the combination of L-band HH and HV could be used to assess waterlogging conditions because they differ depending on variations in local elevation. The study results suggest that future studies can evaluate the microtopography and associated local hydrological environment using the combination of L-band HH and HV backscatter coefficient.

Full-Wave Simulation and Scattering Modeling for Terahertz Communications

This paper presents a comprehensive study for analyzing and modeling the scattering phenomenon of terahertz (THz) waves bouncing on rough surfaces. More specifically, a generic parametric methodology to accurately model the rough characteristics focusing on the root-mean-square (RMS) height and correlation length of a surface is proposed. Firstly, a Monte Carlo-based approach is developed for the efficient and accurate software realization of such rough surfaces. Then, the full-wave simulator FEKO is used to simulate at 300 GHz the far-field behavior of scattering waves on 30 distinct surfaces having 6 RMS heights and 5 correlation lengths. By employing the directive scattering (DS) model, the variation of the scattering coefficient, <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$S$</tex-math></inline-formula> , and its equivalent roughness, <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha _{R}$</tex-math></inline-formula> , are studied for the scattering amplitude aspect. Furthermore, the statistical characteristics of the phase and polarization of the scattered signals are obtained and compared with those available in existing 3GPP channel model standards which are valid for lower frequency bands. These comparisons show that although the phases follow the normal distribution, as is the case with equivalent 3GPP channel models, the cross-polarization ratios (XPRs) follow the logistic distribution. This is an important difference which could have a great impact on the standardization activities of the current 3GPP-related working groups. Finally, the proposed scattering model at the THz band is realized through an algorithmic implementation. Compared with the classical two-dimensional DS model which characterizes only the amplitude of the scattered signal, the proposed three-dimensional scattering model can be efficiently used to accurately characterize all the important parameters of the scattered signals, namely, amplitude, phase, and polarization at the THz band. Additionally, the proposed scattering model can effectively work in conjunction with ray-tracing (RT) schemes leading to precise scattering and channel modeling for new applications, such as holographic radios and multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems.

A Low Cross-Polarization Microstrip Antenna Array for Millimeter Wave Applications

A low cross-polarization microstrip antenna array for millimeter wave (mmW) applications is proposed in this paper. The antenna element is composed of symmetric T-shaped patches with vias. The adoption of a double-sided symmetric radiation patch structure can suppress the cross-polarized electric field, and the vias reduces energy leakage during the power transmission along the antenna patches. To verify the concept, a 1 × 8 antenna array is fabricated and measured. The measured −10 dB impedance of the antenna array is 28.4% (31 GHz–41.5 GHz) and the peak gain is 15 dBi. The cross polarization ratio is above 35 dB and the 3 dB beamwidths on E-plane and H-plane are 7.5° and 135°, respectively. The proposed compact size and low cross-polarization antenna array might be a good choice for phased array radar and 5th generation (5G) mobile communication applications.

Wideband Dual-Polarized Differential-Fed Filtering Microstrip Patch Antenna with High Suppression and Wide Stopband

This paper presents a wideband dual-polarized filtering antenna with high suppression level and wide stopband. In the proposed antenna, the driven patch operates in a TM10 mode with an inherent radiation null caused by a higher mode TM12. Four dual-strip structures connected with the feeding probes are placed below the driven patch to achieve the capacitive coupling, thus resulting in a low-frequency radiation null with a sharp roll-off rate. The introduction of the parasitic patch and strips generates an in-band resonance and two high-frequency radiation nulls, which widens the upper stopband. Four slots are etched on the driven patch to excite the third resonance, thus achieving the wide operation band. The prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated. With four controllable radiation nulls, the out-of-band suppression levels are above 29 dB in low-frequency band greater than 1 GHz and above 21 dB in high-frequency band up to 7 GHz, respectively. Due to the three in-band resonances, a wide impedance bandwidth of 2.93-3.96 GHz with a fractional band of 30% is obtained. With the rotational symmetry structure driven by differential probes, the proposed dual-polarized antenna has a cross-polarization ratio better than 28 dB, a high polarization isolation above 43 dB, and a good peak gain about 9.9 dBi.

Multipolarization Superposition Beamforming: Novel Scheme of Transmit Power Allocation and Subcarrier Assignment

The 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) access technology and the beyond-5G future wireless communication require extremely high data rate and spectrum efficiency. Energy-efficient transmission/reception schemes are also regarded as an important component. The polarization domain has attracted substantial attention in this aspect. This paper is the first to propose multi-polarization superposition beamforming (MPS-Beamforming) with cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) and cross-polarization ratio (XPR)-aware transmit power allocation utilizing the 5G NR antenna panel structure. The appropriate orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier assignment algorithm is also proposed to verify the theoretical schemes via simulations. The detailed theoretical derivation along with comprehensive simulation results illustrate that the proposed novel scheme of MPS-Beamforming is significantly beneficial to the improvement of the performance in terms of the symbol error rate (SER) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain at the user equipment (UE). For instance, a provided practical wireless channel environment in the simulations exhibits 8 dB SNR gain for 10−4 SER in a deterministic channel, and 4 dB SNR gain for 10−5 SER in abundant statistical channel realizations.

A Transparent Wideband Dual-Polarized Antenna for Sub-6 GHz Application

In this letter, a novel transparent dual-polarized antenna has been developed for sub-6 GHz application. The proposed antenna composed of transparent conductive mesh and polycarbonates material is of optical transparency. Based on characteristic mode analysis, the proximity-coupling fed driven patch operates in TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">10</sub> /TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">01</sub> mode. By stacking the parasitic patch and strips above the driven patch with a cross slot, three resonances are generated. With the T-shaped slots on the parasitic patch, the impedance matching at low frequencies is improved. By etching the slots on the ground and cutting off the corners of the driven patch, good port isolation and stable in-band gain are achieved. The prototype of proposed antenna is fabricated. The measured results show that the proposed antenna exhibits a wide impedance band of 2.76–4.13 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 39.8%, a good isolation better than 22 dB, a low cross polarization ratio better than 20 dB within the operating band.

Improving Compact Short Backfire Antenna Gain and Cross-Polarization Using Choke and Ring Cavity Loading

We present two designs that improve the gain and cross-polarization performance of the waveguide-fed short backfire (SBF) antenna by introducing a choke (SBF-2) and by loading the cavity with a metallic ring feature (SBF-2-Ring). A series of parametric simulation studies on antenna dimensions provides information on how to improve the antenna gain and cross-polarization performance while simultaneously extending the impedance bandwidth. For SBF-2, the peak gain was 16.6 dBi, the minimum cross-polarization ratio was −23.8 dB, and the maximum impedance bandwidth was 27.3%, with a gain bandwidth of 19.2%. For SBF-2-Ring, the peak gain was 15.8 dBi, the minimum cross-polarization ratio was −29.1 dB, and the maximum impedance bandwidth was 43.5%, with a gain bandwidth of 31.8%. The concepts were verified by designing, fabricating, and testing two prototypes in the microwave C-band. Excellent agreement between simulation and measurement was achieved. The measured gain for SBF-2-Ring was >14 dBi for 4.7–6.2 GHz and the worst case cross polarization in the diagonal plane was <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$&lt; -22$ </tex-math></inline-formula> dB for 5.3–5.8 GHz. Cross-polarization in the principal planes has significantly greater bandwidth and the worst case analysis is presented to give limitations on the performance.

A Transparent SIW Cavity-Based Millimeter-Wave Slot Antenna for 5G Communication

In this letter, a novel transparent substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-based slot antenna operating in millimeter-wave band has been presented for fifth generation wireless communication application. Different from the traditional opaque SIW antennas, the proposed antenna is composed of transparent conductive mesh with high conductivity characteristics acting as radiation element and ground, and transparent polyethylene terephthalate material used as substrate. By removing a few metallic vias from the SIW cavity, the TE <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">103</sub> mode is well generated. The introduction of several slots etching on the radiation element results in multiple hybrid resonances, and thus the proposed antenna operates in a band of 24.31–27.81 GHz, with a peak gain of 7.8 dBi at 26.5 GHz. The prototype of the designed antenna is fabricated, and the simulated and measured results are given to show that the proposed antenna has good optical transparency and both the cross-polarization ratio and front-to-back ratio are better than 20 dB within the operating band.

Cross-polarization ratio analysis of digital speckle patterns applied to teeth demineralization diagnosis

We propose using the cross-polarization ratio (CPR) of the digital speckle pattern as a parameter to detect enamel erosion. We applied such analysis to successfully detect enamel erosion caused by teeth demineralization. The speckle patterns were produced using an in vitro study in human teeth where the erosion was produced artificially by acid attack. Our result is a proof of principle of the viability to apply CPR in the characterization of enamel erosion, which can be a powerful instrument for early diagnosis of teeth demineralization. This approach proved to be very sensitive to variation in speckle patterns compared with other traditional speckle patterns analyses.

Monitoring Irrigation Events and Crop Dynamics Using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Time Series

Capturing and identifying field-based agricultural activities, such as the start, duration and end of irrigation, together with crop sowing/germination, growing period and time of harvest, offer informative metrics that can assist in precision agricultural activities in addition to broader water and food security monitoring efforts. While optically based band-ratios, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI), have been used as descriptors for monitoring crop dynamics, data are not always available due to the influence of clouds and other atmospheric effects on optical sensors. Satellite-based microwave systems, such as the synthetic aperture radar (SAR), offer an all-weather advantage in monitoring soil and crop conditions. In this paper, we leverage the relative strengths of both optical- and microwave-based approaches by combining high resolution Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical imagery to monitor irrigation events and crop dynamics in a dryland agricultural landscape. A microwave backscatter model was used to analyze the responses of simulated backscatters to soil moisture, NDVI and NDWI (both are correlated with vegetation water content and can be regarded as vegetation descriptors), allowing an empirical relationship between these two platforms. A correlation analysis was also performed using Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical data over crops of maize, alfalfa, carrot and Rhodes grass in Al Kharj farm of Saudi Arabia to identify an appropriate SAR-based vegetation descriptor. The results illustrate the relationship between SAR and both NDVI and NDWI and demonstrated the relationship between the cross-polarization ratio (VH/VV) and the two optical indices. We explore the capacity of this multi-platform and multi-sensor approach to inform on the spatio-temporal dynamics of a range of agricultural activities, which can be used to facilitate field-based management decisions.

Calibration loop antenna for 5G OTA measurement systems

The advent of the fifth generation New Radio (5G NR) is pushing toward an extension of the traditional Sub-6G communication bands to 6 GHz and above. Such trend calls for an update of multi-probe measurement systems for an accurate Over-The-Air (OTA) characterization of such new devices. The new measurement requires the precise calibration of the measurement system within a frequency band beyond the traditional 6 GHz limit. Thus, a new calibration antenna working over 6 GHz is required, which should achieve an adequate comprehensive behavior in terms of suppression of common mode current, small gain ripple and good impedance matching. In order to meet this objective, an analytical expression is proposed in this paper to optimize each of the above aspects of the calibration loop antenna. Based on the proposed objective function, a calibration loop antenna operating at 5.9–7.12 GHz is designed. The proposed design is made of six Vivaldi antennas with a compact size of 35 × 35 × 1.524 mm. In order to effectively suppress the common mode current, a three-layer PCB is designed to reduce the mutual coupling between the antenna and coaxial cable. Slotted balun structures and arc slots are designed on each Vivaldi antenna radiator to lower the gain variation to 0.2 dB or less in the horizontal plane as well as further suppress the interference of the cable. Measurement results reveal that the proposed calibration loop antenna achieved a radiation performance similar to the standard antennas, but with a higher bandwidth of 19%, since it is characterized by |S11| <−10 dB between 5.9 and 7.12 GHz, a small gain ripple less than 0.2 dB as well as a high cross-polarization ratio larger than 27 dB.