ON THE IMPORTANCE OF POLARIZATION IN RADAR SCATTERING PROBLEMS (SYNTHETIC APERTURE, IMAGING)

In this thesis, the importance of polarization in radar scattering problems is investigated. The different matrix characterizations of scatterers are discussed in detail. The problem of finding the polarizations which would yield an optimum amount of power received from the scatterer is solved for the most general case. This shows that for certain classes of scatterers six optimum polarizations exist. The concept of a polarization spectrum to characterize a scatterer is introduced. The usefulness of these spectrums is illustrated when results, using measured multipolarization synthetic aperture radar data, are discussed. Another useful parameter, the coefficient of variation, is introduced. Measured results show that this parameter may be used to form an idea of the scale over which the scattering properties of the scene being imaged vary. The problem of finding the effective scattering operator of a slab filled with different scatterers is formulated. Detailed expressions are given for the effective single scattering operators. This formulation is illustrated by calculating the effective single scattering operators for models of different types of vegetation.