Evaluation of Calibration Using Corner Reflector with Ground-Based Interferometric Radar

The accuracy of microwave remote sensing relies on the calibration of the radar measurement. It is important to estimate the radar cross-section (RCS) using a passive corner reflector (CR) or active transponder to evaluate the quality of imaging radar data. A strong and consistent RCS can be achieved by the acquisition of radar signals concentrated at specific angles during the CR calibration procedure. There are several types of CR depending on the shape and size such as triangular trihedrals, square trihedrals, dihedrals, spheres, or cylinders. In this study, we examine the RCSs using three types of CR with Ku-band ground-based real aperture radar equipment, the Gamma Portable Radar Interferometer-II. It can be easily deployed to acquire fully polarimetric radar observations. The initial experiment was conducted at Busan Sam-nak Auto Camping Site on November 1, 2023. The amplitude images show much higher backscattered radar signals at the CR location, whereas relatively lower power has been captured in the surrounding areas. The attenuation factors in the radar receivers could be useful to prevent saturation around the CR location at the line-of-sight direction. The experiment indicates that the different levels of the RCS measurements from three types of CRs could be utilized for calibration study with fully polarimetric radar observations.