Polarimetric Calibration Based on Lexicographic-Basis Decomposition

A novel polarimetric calibration scheme on the basis of lexicographic matrix decomposition is proposed, and a new polarimetric active radar calibrator (PARC) with two independently rotatable antennas is designed to obtain the lexicographic matrices. Thus, the proposed method is realizable and can operate with the lexicographic target vectors instead of the polarization scattering matrix (PSM). The base elements of the lexicographic target vectors are the vectors corresponding to the new PARC with the antennas at different orientations. Moreover, the elements of the vector are just the elements of the PSM. Hence, the error coefficients corresponding to a polarimetric measurement system are directly achieved, and the polarimetric calibration is simple and accurate. Experimental results confirm the superiority of the presented strategy. A 35-dB improvement in the system cross-polarization isolation is obtained.