Pauli Phase Calibration in Compact Polarimetry

In this paper, we consider the problem of true transmitter polarization state estimation for circular compact SAR modes. We employ two methods—the first using point targets such as trihedral reflectors, and the second, a new method, based on the Pauli phase observed over distributed targets like forest canopy. We first show how compact modes allow estimation of the Pauli phase for reflection symmetric scatterers. We show that this phase remains remarkably constant over forest canopies, depending primarily on the dielectric constant of constituent volume particles. We show that small imperfections in the transmit polarization state then lead to large errors in this phase estimate. These errors can then be used as the basis for a calibration strategy that allows estimation of a set of candidate true transmitter states. These can then be compared with the trihedral estimates for validation. We illustrate using L-band compact data from the JAXA ALOS-2 satellite and C-band data from the ISRO RISAT-1 satellite.