GNSS-R reflected signals polarization characteristics: Theoretical study on vegetation remote sensing

GNSS-R remote sensing has been attracted much attention during the past few years due to its unique advantages. Meanwhile, its receivers and signal processors have been improved. However, some ambiguities still exit. Receiver's elevation angles and antenna polarizations are the important effects for geophysical parameters monitoring and retrievals. This paper uses the microwave scattering model to do some research on GNSS-R vegetation polarizations. The already developed bistatic scattering model Bi-mimics is used as the study tool. After some modifications, any polarization combination is able to be calculated. As for GNSS-R, RHCP signal is transmitted and linear or circular polarization signals are received. Aspen is used as model input. Theoretical analysis indicates that antenna polarization should be paid more attention as for different applications. Further study need to be done in the future.