Correction of Wind-Induced Errors for Ground-Based Radar Based on Antenna Offsets

During natural occurrences of strong wind weather, the antenna of real aperture ground-based radars, such as the GAMMA portable radar interferometer II (GPRI-II), experiences significant interference. Although the manufacturers of GPRI-II recommend the use of a protective cover to resist strong, windy weather, the protective cover is cost-prohibitive and challenging to transport. Consequently, the estimated deformation results by GPRI-II became inaccurate. To address this challenge of ground-based radars with real aperture during windy conditions, in this article a novel method is proposed to correct wind-induced errors for ground-based radars based on antenna offsets. First, the vertical offset of the radar antennas is determined using optical images captured by a camera. Second, both the offset of the antenna image and the actual antenna offset are employed to establish the solution model. Finally, the wind-induced phase fringes on the interferogram are estimated using the imaging geometry of the ground-based radar. The applicability of this algorithm is validated through real experiments in the Jiujiang open-pit mine area in Jiangxi Province, China, and experiments in the urban area of Changsha City, Hunan Province, China. An analysis of the experimental results from the Jiujiang mine area is also presented.