Anechoic Chamber Polinsar Measurements of Rice Canopy

Height is an important indicator of rice growth condition and phenological period. The Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (PolInSAR) has proven a valuable technique for providing structural metrics of vegetation. Anechoic chamber experiments, allowing a high flexibility in the configuration of operating parameters, such as frequency and baseline, is the most convenient and feasible way to study the potential of PolInSAR in rice height retrieval. In this study, the first PolInSAR measurements of a recently built anechoic chamber, The Laboratory of Target Microwave Properties (LAMP), were presented and analyzed versus frequency and baseline, and rice height was retrieved using the measurement data. The results confirm that LAMP has the ability of PolInSAR, and the height of rice in milk stage is retrieved more precisely in the frequency range of 2.5 to 4.7GHz, when the baseline is 0.5°. The results are expected to contribute to studying and to defining the operation modes for future SAR missions.