Sisir Radar explores the untapped potential of the highest resolution Polarimetric P band SAR

At Sisir Radar, we are getting fascinating observations with our P band imagery. Most SAR enthusiasts and researchers, whether in India or abroad, have hardly any exposure to high-resolution Polarimetric SAR signatures in the P band.

We decided to examine three dominant signatures of the P band, namely surface scattering (single bounce), scattering from vertical structures (double bounce) and scattering from foliage and amorphous return from soil underground ( depolarised). The surface signatures are significantly dominant, with hardly any foliage signature. No doubt that Polarimetric P band SAR will be an excellent tool for observing targets even in the presence of significant foliage cover.

Contrast the P band signatures with the L band signatures. The L band exhibits almost equal proportions of the above-mentioned signatures. The L band appears to be a very useful band for both foliage and sub-foliage feature detection. No doubt, L band SAR is an excellent tool for forest and agricultural biomass estimation.

Preliminary observation of P band data indicates that P band SAR may open up a new tool for high-resolution GPR with wide area coverage. This Polarimetric GPR will have an excellent ability to segregate soil volume and buried object signatures in distinct depolarised and surface returns. The next research aim should be to devise a new algorithm to separate buried objects from surface signatures.