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Abstract- To further investigate the potential for remotely GHz, an optimal frequency for soil moisture remote sensing.
sensing soil moisture using the L-band GPS bistatic radar Measurement of GPS signals reflected from the land surface is
concept, a GPS bistatic radar participated for the first time in analogous to a bistatic radar system, with transmitters located
airborne measurements during the Soil Moisture Experiment at each GPS satellite and a separate receiver located above the
2002 (SMEX02) in Ames, Iowa. A 12-channel GPS navigation
surface of the earth. In bistatic systems, the scattering is
receiver was modified to perform bistatic radar measurements
and mounted on the NCAR C-130 aircraft to make co-located mainly forward, and the radar cross section is expressed as a
measurements with the JPL PALS instrument. The reflected bistatic cross section.
GPS signal-to-noise ratio measurements generated a ground In 1996, Katzberg and Garrison initiated an investigation
track which was sensitive to the surface characteristics. into the use of GPS bistatic signals for ocean remote sensing
Assuming surface roughness and vegetation cover to be constants applications using a Delay Mapping Receiver (DMR) [7]. The
over the duration of the study period, the temporal changes in the theory of GPS signal scattering from rough surfaces,
measured signals were suspected to be proportional to varying particularly ocean waves, was described in [8]. From theory,
soil moisture content. The bistatic signal measurements were the GPS signal scattered by the land surface will fluctuate due
interpolated to a UTM grid to produce daily maps of relative
to surface roughness, permittivity, and vegetation attenuation.
change of surface soil moisture over the study region. The maps
of the study region showed a transition from very dry surface soil For the present investigation of soil moisture sensitivity during
moisture conditions to very wet conditions following precipitation SMEX02, some simplifying assumptions were used, namely
events occurring in the middle of the study period. Additionally, that the surface roughness would not change with time nor
the maps showed sensitivity to localized rainfall in areas where would vegetation growth attenuate the signal. Therefore the
the scattered power increased relative to areas without temporal changes in scattered power would be due only to soil
precipitation. The scattered signal measurements were also moisture variations.
compared with in situ soil moisture measurements at 32 field sites
and found to follow the general soil moisture trend as a function II. MEASUREMENT METHODS
of time. These positive initial results from the first controlled
experiment of GPS bistatic radar for measuring soil moisture The SMEX02 campaign was conducted in Ames, Iowa
were encouraging. Additional analyses with the present data set
during June and July of 2002. More information on the
and comparison with other remote sensing instruments (PALS)
are planned as well as participation in future campaigns. SMEX02 campaign is provided in [9]. A DMR receiver was
mounted in the NCAR C-130 aircraft with a low-gain, zenith
I. INTRODUCTION RCP patch antenna viewing the sky and a replica nadir LCP
patch antenna viewing the ground. A total of eight, non-
A number of disciplines, including hydrology, climatology, consecutive flight days were conducted by the C-130.
and agriculture, require soil moisture content for prediction of The DMR software was modified to operate autonomously
potential flood hazards, understanding land-atmosphere energy using a database of orthometric land surface heights to
balance, and crop yield expectation [1]. Soil moisture has compensate for elevation changes and predict the location
been identified as a key—but lacking—input to numerical (delay) of the signal reflection. Additionally, the DMR was
weather prediction models. Remote sensing of soil moisture programmed to track the signals from the highest elevation
has been predominantly realized in the microwave region of satellite in view which would result in incidence angles near
the electromagnetic spectrum. Within the microwave band, nadir. The DMR recorded reflected waveforms were post-
frequencies in the range of 1-3 GHz (30-10 cm) have been processed to georeference the receiver position and estimate
shown to be ideally suited to sensing soil of moisture due to the specular reflection points onto the land surface following
reduced atmospheric attenuation and better penetration of the procedure described in [6].
vegetation at longer wavelengths [2]. A wide variety of both Most of the measured reflection waveforms resembled the
passive radiometers and active radar sensors have been used to direct signal correlation waveform without spreading to longer
measure soil moisture, and work in this field is active [1-4]. delays, indicating that the scattering surface was acting like a
A new technique to measure soil moisture using GPS specular reflector. The noise power was estimated using a
bistatic radar was proposed following synergistic work in correlator measuring the absence of signal before the arrival of
sensing ocean surface roughness and winds [5,6]. The GPS the reflected signal. The peak of the reflected power was
constellation broadcasts a civilian-use carrier signal at 1.57542 estimated by fitting the measured waveform (sampled at half-
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CONCLUSIONS