Validation of S-band data performance for future spaceborne SAR missions

Inhalt:
Most of the SAR missions of the latest years presented sensors working in X-band (like in the TerraSAR-X and Cosmo-SkyMed missions). Today new SAR missions, working at alternative frequencies like S-band, are under planning/design and will be launched in the upcoming years. In addition, full polarimetry is likely to be implemented in some of those missions. This is the case of the UK sensor NovaSAR-S to be launched by 2013. In order to validate the performance of S-band, especially in comparison with the better known and tested X-band, an airborne demonstrator has been set up to contemporaneously acquire fully polarimetric SAR data in both bands. In this paper we present, compare and discuss results deriving from the application of the H/a and the Pauli decompositions to the fully polarimetric datasets in both bands to understand possible advantages of S-band in specific applications.