144 research outputs found
Synthetic aperture radar target simulator
A simulator for simulating the radar return, or echo, from a target seen by a SAR antenna mounted on a platform moving with respect to the target is described. It includes a first-in first-out memory which has digital information clocked in at a rate related to the frequency of a transmitted radar signal and digital information clocked out with a fixed delay defining range between the SAR and the simulated target, and at a rate related to the frequency of the return signal. An RF input signal having a frequency similar to that utilized by a synthetic aperture array radar is mixed with a local oscillator signal to provide a first baseband signal having a frequency considerably lower than that of the RF input signal
Estimating the Permanent Loss of Groundwater Storage in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, California
In the San Joaquin Valley, California, recent droughts starting in 2007 have increased the pumping of groundwater, leading to widespread subsidence. In the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley, vertical subsidence as high as 85 cm has been observed between June 2007 and December 2010 using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). This study seeks to map regions where inelastic (not recoverable) deformation occurred during the study period, resulting in permanent compaction and loss of groundwater storage. We estimated the amount of permanent compaction by incorporating multiple data sets: the total deformation derived from InSAR, estimated skeletal-specific storage and hydraulic parameters, geologic information, and measured water levels during our study period. We used two approaches, one that we consider to provide an estimate of the lowest possible amount of inelastic deformation, and one that provides a more reasonable estimate. These two approaches resulted in a spatial distribution of values for the percentage of the total deformation that was inelastic, with the former estimating a spatially averaged value of 54%, and the latter a spatially averaged value of 98%. The former corresponds to the permanent loss of 4.14*108 m3 of groundwater storage, or roughly 5% of the volume of groundwater used over the study time period; the latter corresponds to the loss of 7.48*108 m3 of groundwater storage, or roughly 9% of the volume of groundwater used. This study demonstrates that a data-driven approach can be used effectively to estimate the permanent loss of groundwater storage
The Earthlike Shoreline Morphology of Titan's Ontario Lacus
Ontario Lacus' shoreline features include Earth-like rivers, deltas and flooded topography. Ontario is a dynamic lake, similar in many ways to terrestrial lakes, with active shoreline processes
Astrometry and geodesy with radio interferometry: experiments, models, results
Summarizes current status of radio interferometry at radio frequencies
between Earth-based receivers, for astrometric and geodetic applications.
Emphasizes theoretical models of VLBI observables that are required to extract
results at the present accuracy levels of 1 cm and 1 nanoradian. Highlights the
achievements of VLBI during the past two decades in reference frames, Earth
orientation, atmospheric effects on microwave propagation, and relativity.Comment: 83 pages, 19 Postscript figures. To be published in Rev. Mod. Phys.,
Vol. 70, Oct. 199
Polarimetric SAR Image Segmentation with B-Splines and a New Statistical Model
We present an approach for polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image
region boundary detection based on the use of B-Spline active contours and a
new model for polarimetric SAR data: the GHP distribution. In order to detect
the boundary of a region, initial B-Spline curves are specified, either
automatically or manually, and the proposed algorithm uses a deformable
contours technique to find the boundary. In doing this, the parameters of the
polarimetric GHP model for the data are estimated, in order to find the
transition points between the region being segmented and the surrounding area.
This is a local algorithm since it works only on the region to be segmented.
Results of its performance are presented
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