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A Spaceborne Demonstration of P-Band Signals-of-Opportunity (SoOp) Reflectometry
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  • James Garrison ,
  • Benjamin R Nold ,
  • Dallas Masters ,
  • Conor Brown ,
  • Jordan Bridgeman ,
  • Justin Mansell ,
  • Manuel Vega ,
  • Rajat Bindlish ,
  • Jeffrey Piepmeier ,
  • Sachidananda Babu
James Garrison
Purdue University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Benjamin R Nold
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Dallas Masters
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Conor Brown
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Jordan Bridgeman
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Justin Mansell
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Manuel Vega
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Rajat Bindlish
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Jeffrey Piepmeier
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Sachidananda Babu
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Abstract

Land-reflected signals from a geosynchronous communication satellite broadcasting in P-band (367.5 MHz) were captured in low Earth orbit using a simple dipole antenna. A delay-Doppler map (DDM) was generated through autocorrelation. Estimates of the specular point delay were obtained from the lag of the second peak in the DDM with a bias of 239.4 m and a standard deviation of 44 m (12 m over a frozen lake) with respect to a predicted orbit model. Relative magnitudes of the first and second DDM peaks fell within the range of values predicted using dielectric models for the frozen ground and lake. Lastly, retrievals of surface reflectivity were generated using a range of realistic values for the transmitter link budget G/T, these also fell within the range of possible values for the antenna gain pattern. Given the lack of calibration and the large uncertainties in the receiver orbit and attitude, this agreement is sufficient to conclude a successful demonstration of the fundamental principle of single-antenna reflectometry in P-band. P-band reflectometry may offer a new approach to remote sensing of sub-canopy and root-zone soil moisture.
2023Published in IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters volume 20 on pages 1-5. 10.1109/LGRS.2023.3304469