Reflectometry from Signals of Opportunity in Ku Band

Several companies are developing massive satellite constellations aimed to deliver global broadband internet and provide in the near future benefits and opportunities. These opportunity signals also provide additional capabilities if exploited for remotes sensing purposes. The present study shows first results of an Open Space Innovation idea supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), where the concept of microwave reflectometry using signals of opportunity from the OneWeb satellites constellation will be used for wind speed measurements over the sea surface. This big constellation of satellites operate in the Ku band, which is well suited for detecting sea surface geophysical parameters as well as soil soil moisture. This work focuses on the simulation of the normalized bistatic radar cross section scattered from the sea surface using a full polarimetric approach in first-order small slope approximation.