Radar Backscattering Measurements of Paddy Rice Field using L, C, and X-band Polarimetric Scatterometer

The objective of this study is to measure backscattering coefficients of paddy rice using L, C, X-bands scatterometer system during a rice growth period. The measurement was conducted at an experimental field located in National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (NIAST), Suwon, Korea. The rice cultivar was a kind of Japonica type, called Chuchung. The scatterometer system consists of dual-polarimetric square horn antennas, HP8720D vector network analyzer (20MHz ${\sim}$ 20GHz), RF cables, and a personal computer that controls frequency, polarization and data storage. The scatterometer system is calibrated using a calibration kit (3.5mm, 85052D). The backscattering coefficients were calculated by applying radar equation for the measured at incidence angles between $20^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$ for four polarization (HR, VV, HV, VH), respectively, and compared with rice growth data such as plant height, stem number, biomass, dry weight and LAI that were collected at time of each scatterometer measurement simultaneously.