Localization of RFI Sources for the SMOS Mission: A Means for Assessing SMOS Pointing Performances

Author

Soldo, Yan ; Cabot, Francois ; Khazaal, Ali ; Miernecki, Maciej ; Slominska, Ewa ; Fieuzal, Remy ; Kerr, Yann H.

Author_Institution

Centre d´Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphere (CESBIO), Centre Nat. d´Eudes Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France

Volume

8

Issue

2

fYear

2015

fDate

Feb. 2015

Firstpage

617

Lastpage

627

Abstract

Artificial sources emitting in the protected part of the L-band are contaminating the retrievals of the soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in November 2009. Detecting and pinpointing such sources is crucial for the improvement of SMOS science products as well as for the identification of the emitters. In this contribution, we present a method to obtain snapshot-wise information about sources of radio-frequency interference (RFI). The localization accuracy of this method is also assessed for observed RFI sources. We also show that RFI localizations constitute a useful data set for assessing the pointing performance of the satellite, and present how it is possible, using the results of this method, to identify and estimate two systematic errors in the geo-location of the satellite field of view. The potential causes and the approaches to mitigate both these errors are discussed.

Keywords

geophysical signal processing; microwave measurement; radiofrequency interference; radiometry; remote sensing; signal detection; AD 2009 11; ESA; European Space Agency; L-band emission; MIRAS; RFI source localization; SMOS mission; SMOS pointing performance assessment; SMOS satellite retrieval; SMOS science products; Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite; emitter identification; error mitigation; radiofrequency interference; satellite field of view geolocation; snapshot-wise information; source detection; source pinpointing; systematic error estimation; Contamination; Earth; Image reconstruction; SMOS mission; Satellites; Sea ice; Sea surface; Ascending???descending bias; Ascending??descending bias; detection; localization; radio-frequency interference (RFI); soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS); systematic error;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1939-1404

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTARS.2014.2336988

Filename

6873228