Abstract

Analyzing Radar Data in Order to Measure Altitude Offset between Radar Types
Dravid Joseph, Dr. Prasad Gogineni, and Aqsa Patel, Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045

During a field mission, multiple types of radar simultaneously collect data from the same aircraft.  As field data is usually accompanied by noise, either from the surroundings or the radar itself, the raw data needs to be processed so that coherent information can be extracted.  By applying a fast-time FFT and various filters, the data is now in a position to be looked at.  The processed data is organized by the day of collection, as well as by segment.  There are six primary products created during this period:  vector files, quick look (“qlook”) files, layer files, post files, .csv files, and .kml files.  Vector files specify information about the first record in each file, the filename, and GPS information.  Quick look files are unfocused SAR-processed data.  From the qlook files, one can create layer files, which contain the surface layer information.  Post files concatenate the qlook files,  producing a map of the segment as well as a .png file containing an echogram of the surface.  Finally, .csv and .kml files are used to upload and display information on Google Earth if desired. By inputting parameters onto an Excel spreadsheet and then processing the data through MATLAB, these data products were able to be produced. Processing was done on 2011 Greenland P3 data, specifically for Ku-Band radar.  Future work could include calibration of this data in order to analyze whether the offset between multiple types of radar on the P3 is constant.