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Hensley, Scott

Publications and source records attributed to Hensley, Scott.

At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

Phase Screen Determination for the GeoSAR Interferometric Mapping Instrument

GeoSAR is a dual frequency airborne radar interferometric mapping instrument designed to obtain high resolution and high accuracy digital elevation models. The X-band inteferometric antennas are mounted beneath the fuselage with a separation distance of 2.6 m. Midway between the antennas along the aircraft centerline is a large fairing housing the Laser Baseline metrology System (LBMS) and Inertial Navigtion Units (INUs). The P-band antennas are mounted in wingtip pods approximately 10 m from the aircraft centerline. Multipath signals reflected from the LBMS fairing cause phase distortions corrupting the topograhic height measurements for both the X-band and P-band systems. In addition multipath off the wing affects the P-band phase measurements. In this paper we discuss a technique used to mitigate the amount of X-Band multipath and methods calibrating and correcting the phase for both X-Band and P-Band using a high accuracy DEM. Height differences between the interferometrically derived elevations and a photogrammetrically derived DEM are converted into phase differences. Multipath phase errors are sinusoidal with spatial frequency and amplitude related to the magnitude of reflection of the multipath reflection point and its distance from the interferometric antennas. These phase residuals are fitted using a Chebyshev polynomial sequence and used as a phase screen in the processor to correct the phase prior to height reconstruction. Based on the correction signal it is possible to estimate the location and magnitude of the multipath signal. This information can then be used to extend the domain of the phase screen over mapping angles not covered during the calibration passes. Keywords: SAR,interferometry,phase screen

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS2000

Baseline Calibration of the GeoSAR Interferometric Mapping Instrument

GeoSAR is a dual frequency, X-Band and P-Band, interferometric mapping radar flown on a Gulfstream II with a nominal flying altitude of 10000 and a swath width of 10 km on both left and right sides of the aircraft. The radar is designed to generate high resolution and high accuracy digital elevation maps both above and below the vegetation canopy. In order to generate the high accuracy digital elevations models it is necessary to have extremely precise knowledge of the interferometric baseline, approximately .1 mm for the X-band system and 3 mm for the P-band system. Baseline knowledge to this level of accuracy is achieved through a combination of active baseline measurement using a Laser Baseline Metrology System (LBMS) and baseline calibration using an accurately surveyed array of corner reflectors. In this paper, we describe the LBMS system used to measure the dynamic component of the interferometric baseline and the least squares procedure used to estimate all three components of the interferometric baseline based on differences between calculated and surveyed corner reflector locations.

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS2000

Topographic Map Generation from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission C-band SCANSAR Interferometry

A highly accurate global topographic map of the Earth's surface has been an elusive goal for at least three decades that may soon be achieved with the newly acquired Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data. SRTM collected data for 99.97% of the Earth's landmass between -57 degrees and 60 degrees latitude during a 11 day mission in February, 2000. A modified version of the SIR-C radar that previously flew on the shuttle in 1994 augmented with a radar mounted on a 62 m boom was used to collect radar interferometric data at C (5.6 cm wavelength) and X (3 cm wavelength) bands. The C-band radar was operated in the SCANSAR mode in order to extend the swath width to 225 km the minimal amount required to achieve contiguous coverage at the equator. This paper presents an overview of the new algorithms and techniques used to process the SCANSAR data to digital elevation maps. First results of topographic maps generated from the SRTM data are used to illustrate the techniques described in this paper.

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS2000

Analysis of Radar Images of Angkor, Cambodia

During the 1996 AIRSAR Pacific Rim Deployment, data were collected over Angkor in Cambodia. The temples of Angkor date the succession of cities to the 9th-13th century AD, but little is known of its prehistoric habitation. A related area of archaeological debate has been the origin, spiritual meaning and use of the hydraulic constructions in the urban zone. The high resolution, multi-channel capability of AIRSAR, together with the unprecedentedly accurate topography provided by TOPSAR, offer identification and delineation of these features. Examples include previously unrecorded circular earthworks around circular village sites, detection of unrecorded earthwork dykes, reservoirs and canal features, and of temple sites located some distance from the main temple complex at Angkor.

Freeman, Anthony↗
NASA NTRS2000

GeoSAR: A Radar Terrain Mapping System for the New Millennium

GeoSAR Geographic Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a new 3 year effort to build a unique, dual-frequency, airborne Interferometric SAR for mapping of terrain. This is being pursued via a Consortium of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Calgis, Inc., and the California Department of Conservation. The airborne portion of this system will operate on a Calgis Gulfstream-II aircraft outfitted with P- and X-band Interferometric SARs. The ground portions of this system will be a suite of Flight Planning Software, an IFSAR Processor and a Radar-GIS Workstation. The airborne P-band and X-band radars will be constructed by JPL with the goal of obtaining foliage penetration at the longer P-band wavelengths. The P-band and X-band radar will operate at frequencies of 350 Mhz and 9.71 Ghz with bandwidths of either 80 or 160 Mhz. The airborne radars will be complemented with airborne laser system for measuring antenna positions. Aircraft flight lines and radar operating instructions will be computed with the Flight Planning Software The ground processing will be a two-step step process. First, the raw radar data will be processed into radar images and interferometer derived Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Second, these radar images and DEMs will be processed with a Radar GIS Workstation which performs processes such as Projection Transformations, Registration, Geometric Adjustment, Mosaicking, Merging and Database Management. JPL will construct the IFSAR Processor and Calgis, Inc. will construct the Radar GIS Workstation. The GeoSAR Project was underway in November 1996 with a goal of having the radars and laser systems fully integrated onto the Calgis Gulfstream-II aircraft in early 1999. Then, Engineering Checkout and Calibration-Characterization Flights will be conducted through November 1999. The system will be completed at the end of 1999 and ready for routine operations in the year 2000.

Thompson, Thomas↗
NASA NTRS1999

First Results From the GeoSAR Mapping Instrument

Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Radar (GeoSAR) is a consortium project consisting of The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Calgis (a small GIS company based in Fresno, CA) and the California Department of Conservation with funding provided by Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started in November 1996. The two main objectives of the GeoSAR Program are: 1) To develop a state of the art dual frequency interferometric radar mapping instrument capable of mapping the true ground surface height beneath the vegetation canopy; and 2) To transition this mapping technology to a commercial company, Calgis. JPL, the technical lead, has the following program deliverables at program completion in November 1999 include radar design and radar hardware for X-band (3 cm) and P-band (83 cm) radars, processor software, hardware and documentation, and calibrated X-band radar.

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS1999

A Comparative Study of Interferometric Regridding Algorithms

THe paper discusses regridding options: (1) The problem of interpolating data that is not sampled on a uniform grid, that is noisy, and contains gaps is a difficult problem. (2) Several interpolation algorithms have been implemented: (a) Nearest neighbor - Fast and easy but shows some artifacts in shaded relief images. (b) Simplical interpolator - uses plane going through three points containing point where interpolation is required. Reasonably fast and accurate. (c) Convolutional - uses a windowed Gaussian approximating the optimal prolate spheroidal weighting function for a specified bandwidth. (d) First or second order surface fitting - Uses the height data centered in a box about a given point and does a weighted least squares surface fit.

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Utility and Validity of Kinematic GPS Positioning for the Geosar Airborne Terrain Mapping Radar System

GeoSAR is an airborne, interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) system for terrain mapping, currently under development by a consortium including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Calgis, Inc., a California mapping sciences company, and the California Department of Conservation (CaIDOC), with funding provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). IFSAR data processing requires high-accuracy platform position and attitude knowledge. On 9 GeoSAR, these are provided by one or two Honeywell Embedded GPS Inertial Navigation Units (EGI) and an Ashtech Z12 GPS receiver. The EGIs provide real-time high-accuracy attitude and moderate-accuracy position data, while the Ashtech data, post-processed differentially with data from a nearby ground station using Ashtech PNAV software, provide high-accuracy differential GPS positions. These data are optimally combined using a Kalman filter within the GeoSAR motion measurement software, and the resultant position and orientation information are used to process the dual frequency (X-band and P-band) radar data to generate high-accuracy, high -resolution terrain imagery and digital elevation models (DEMs). GeoSAR requirements specify sub-meter level planimetric and vertical accuracies for the resultant DEMS. To achieve this, platform positioning errors well below one meter are needed. The goal of GeoSAR is to obtain 25 cm or better 3-D positions from the GPS systems on board the aircraft. By imaging a set of known point target corner-cube reflectors, the GeoSAR system can be calibrated. This calibration process yields the true position of the aircraft with an uncertainty of 20- 50 cm. This process thus allows an independent assessment of the accuracy of our GPS-based positioning systems. We will present an overview of the GeoSAR motion measurement system, focusing on the use of GPS and the blending of position data from the various systems. We will present the results of our calibration studies that relate to the accuracy the GPS positioning. We will discuss the effects these positioning, errors have on the resultant DEM products and imagery.

Freedman, Adam↗
NASA NTRS1997

Detection of aseismic creep along the San Andreas fault near Parkfield, California with ERS-1 radar interferometry

The differential interferometric analysis of ERS data from Parkfield (CA) observations revealed the wide area distribution of creep along the moving fault segment of the San Andreas fault over a 15 month interval. The removal of the interferometric phase related to the surface topography was carried out. The fault was clearly visible in the differential interferogram. The magnitude of the tropospheric water vapor phase distortions is greater than the signal and hinders quantitative analysis beyond order of magnitude calculations.

Werner, Charles L.↗
NASA NTRS1997

(abstract) Studies of Interferometric Penetration into Vegetation Canopies using Multifrequency Interferometry Data at JPL

Radar interferometric observations both from spaceborne and airborne platforms have been used to generate accurate topographic maps, measure milimeter level displacements from earthquakes and volcanoes, and for making land cover classification and land cover change maps. Interferometric observations have two basic measurements, interferometric phase, which depends upon the path difference between the two antennas and the correlation. One of the key questions concerning interferometric observations of vegetated regions is where in the canopy does the interferometric phase measure the height. Results for two methods of extracting tree heights and other vegetation parameters based upon the amount of volumetric decorrelation will be presented.

radar interferometry vegetation land cover↗
NASA NTRS1996

First Results of the TOPSAR C-Band/L-Band Interferometer: Calibration and Differential Penetration

Teh NASA/JPL TOPSAR instrument recently was extended from a single wavelength C-band dual aperture synthetic aperture radar interferometer to include a second wavelength at L-band. Adding the second wavelength invites comparison of wavelength diverse effects in topographic mapping of surfaces, with the principal goal of understanding the penetration of the radar signals in vegetation canopies, and determining the inferred topographic height.

TOPSAR↗
NASA NTRS1996

Repeat Pass Aircraft Interferometry Results at Portage Lake, Maine and Innisfail, Australia

The NASA/JPL AIRSAR/TOPSAR instruments have the capability of collecting fully polarimetric radar data at three wavelengths (C, L, and P-bands) and dual antenna interferometry at C-band, and more recently, L-band. In order to understand frequency and baseline dependent scattering effects in vegetated regions, repeat pass interferometry data was collected for two vegetated regions in 1993. Portage Lake, Maine is a primarily coniferous forested region with some clear cutting from logging activities in the region. The second site at Innisfail, Australia borders a tropical rain forest and is situated adjacent to some major clear cut regions and banana plantations. Preliminary analysis of repeat pass data collected in these areas shows that the smaller the wavelength the greater the temporal decorrelation between passes, the longer the wavelength the greater the penetration depth for some types of vegetation canopy, yet for some vegetation canopy types, in particular for a banana plantation, there appears to be no frequency dependent penetration into the canopy.

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS1996

First Results of the TOPSAR C-Band / L-Band Interferometer: Calibration and Differential Penetration

The NASA/JPL TOPSAR instrument recently was extended from a single wavelength C-band dual aperture synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometer to include a second wavelength at the L-band. Adding the second wavelength invites comparison of wavelength-diverse effects in topographic mapping of surfaces, with the principal goal of understanding the penetration of the radar signals in vegetation canopies, and determining the inferred topographic height. A first analysis of these data was conducted at two sites. Elkhorn Slough near Monterey, California presented flat, vegetation free terrain required for calibrating the radar interferometer parameters. A second site stretching from San Jose to Santa Cruz, California, which is heavily vegetated, provided the first test case for wavelength diverse penetration studies. Preliminary results show that: (a) the interferometer calibration determined at Elkhorn Slough is extenable to Laurel Quad and gives confidence in the C- and L-band height measurements; (b) Clear differences were observed between the C- and L-band heights associated with vegetation, with the C-band derived topographic heights generally higher than those from L-band. The noise level in the L-band interferometer is presently the limiting factor in penetration studies.

Rosen, Paul A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Repeat Pass Aircraft Interferometry Results at Portage Lake, Maine and Innisfail, Australia

The NASA/JPL AIRSAR/TOPSAR instruments have the capability of collecting fully polarimetric radar data at three wavelengths (C, L and P-Bands) and dual antenna interferometry at C-Band, and more recently L-Band. In order to understand frequency and baseline dependent scattering effects in vegetated regions repeat pass interferometry data was collected for two vegetated regions in 1993. Portage Lake, Maine is a primarily coniferous forested region with some clear cutting from logging activities in the region. The second site at Innisfail, Australia borders a tropical rain forest and is situated adjacent to some major clear cut regions and banana plantations. Preliminary analysis of repeat pass data collected in these areas shows that the smaller the wavelength the greater the temporal decorrelation between passes, the longer the wavelength the greater the penetration depth for some types of vegetation canopy, yet for some vegetation canopy types, in particular for a banana plantation there appears to be no frequency dependent penetration into the canopy.

Hensley, Scott↗
NASA NTRS1996

First Results of the TOPSAR C-Band/L-Band Interferometer: Calibration and Differential Penetration

The NASA/JPL TOPSAR instrument recently was extended from a single- wavelength C-band (5.6 cm-lambda) dual aperture synthetic aperture radar interferometer to include a second wavelength at L-band (24 cm). Adding the second wavelength invites comparison of wavelength-diverse effects in topographic mapping of surfaces, with the principal goal of understanding the penetration of the radar signals in vegetation canopies, and determining the inferred topographic height. A first analysis of these data was conducted at two sites. Elkhorn Slough near Monterey, California presented flat, vegetation free terrain required for calibrating the radar interferometric parameters. A second site stretching from San Jose to Santa Cruz, CA, which is heavily vegetated, provided the first test case for wavelength diverse penetration studies. Preliminary results show that: (a) the interferometer calibration determined at Elkhorn Slough is extendable to Laurel Quad and gives confidence in the C- and L-band height measurements; and (b) Clear differences are observed between the C- and L-band heights associated with vegetation, with C-band-derived topographic heights generally higher than those from L-band. The noise level in the L-band interferometer is presently the limiting factor in penetration studies.

Rosen, Paul A.↗