External Calibration of SIR-B Imagery with Area-Extended and Point Targets

Data takes on two ascending orbits of the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) over an agricultural test site in west-central Illinois were used to establish end-to-end transfer functions for conversion of the digital numbers on the 8-bit image to values of the radar backscattering coefficient σ
⁰
(m
²
/m
²
) in dB. The transfer function for each data take was defined by the SIR-B response to an array of six calibrated point targets of known radar cross section (transponders) and to a large number of area-extended targets also with known radar cross section as measured by externally calibrated, truck-mounted scatterometers. The radar cross section of each transponder at the SIR-B center frequency was measured on an antenna range as a function of the local angle of incidence. Two truck-mounted scatterometers observed 20-80 agricultural fields daily at 1.6 GHz with HH-polarization and at azimuth viewing angles and incidence angles equivalent to those of the SIR-B. The form of the transfer function is completely defined by the SIR-B receiver and the incoherent averaging procedure incorporated into production of the standard SIR-B image product. Assuming that the processing properly accounts for the antenna gain, all transfer function coefficients are known except for the thermal noise power and a system " constant" that has been shown to vary as a function of uncommanded changes in the effective SIR-B transmit power.