Sensitivity Analysis of Microwave Sensors to Various Soil Types and Their Soil Moisture Content

Sangita Kalita, Anuraag Deka, Bikramjit Goswami

Abstract


Understanding soil moisture content is extremely important to model areas for suitability analysis of different plantations and to predict natural disasters like landslides, floods, etc. It also influences hydrological and ecological processes. In the present work, a microwave sensing system with transmitter and receiver antennas in the C band is experimented with. The sensitivity of the sensor system is compared with the changes in soil moisture levels for different soil types available in the North Eastern Region of India using the laboratory-based setup. Suitable frequency determination for such a microwave-range soil moisture sensor is directly related to remote sensing satellite applications. The sensor system is found to be highly sensitive to soil moisture changes in various soil types. However, the determination of the exact frequency range that is suitable to detect soil moisture changes in different soil types is required for satellite remote sensing applications in the microwave range. Especially for the typical alluvial soil types of the Brahmaputra valley, a detailed sensitivity study using the microwave sensor is done in the current study. Thus, this paper presents the study results for determining the most suitable C-band frequency for soil moisture monitoring using active microwave sensors.

Keywords


Active Microwave Sensor; backscattering Power, C-band; Soil Moisture

Full Text:

PDF

References


B. Goswami and M. Kalita, “Radar backscattering measurement of bare soil and vegetation covered soil using X-band and full polarization,” ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, vol. XL8, pp. 733–736, Nov. 2014, doi: 10.5194/isprsarchives-XL-8-733-2014.

K. Y. You et al., “Precise Moisture Monitoring for Various Soil Types Using Handheld Microwave-Sensor Meter,” in IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 2563-2570, July 2013, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2013.2253318.

M. G. Pelletier, S. Karthikeyan, T. R. Green, R. C. Schwartz, J. D. Wanjura, and G. A. Holt, “Soil Moisture Sensing via Swept Frequency Based Microwave Sensors,” Sensors, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 753–767, Jan. 2012, doi: 10.3390/s120100753

S. Paloscia, G. Macelloni, E. Santi and T. Koike, “A multifrequency algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture on a large scale using microwave data from SMMR and SSM/I satellites,” in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 39, no. 8, pp. 1655-1661, Aug. 2001, doi: 10.1109/36.942543.

E. G. Njoku et al., “Observations of soil moisture using a passive and active low-frequency microwave airborne sensor during SGP99,” in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 40, no. 12, pp. 2659-2673, Dec. 2002, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2002.807008.

W. J. Wilson et al., “Passive active L- and S-band (PALS) microwave sensor for ocean salinity and soil moisture measurements,” in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 1039-1048, May 2001, doi: 10.1109/36.921422.

K. Song, X. Zhou and Y. Fan, “Empirically Adopted IEM for Retrieval of Soil Moisture From Radar Backscattering Coefficients,” in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 1662-1672, June 2009, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2008.2009061.

K. A. Shubert and G. T. Ruck, “Canonical representation of the radar range equation in the time domain,” Ultrawideband Radar, Proc. of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), vol. 1631, 1 May 1992) Los Angeles, CA, May 1992, pp. 2–12, doi: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.59023




Copyright (c) 2023

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


Call for Paper for the upcoming issue
 
The journal welcomes publications of high-quality research papers, review papers, white papers, conference papers, etc. on theoretical developments and practical applications in the domain of Electrical and Electronics and its allied sciences.
 
Authors are solicited to contribute to the journal by submitting articles that illustrate original research works, short communications and review articles in the thrust areas of the journal as mentioned on the About page.
 
Submission and AJEEE Paper Template:
  • Download the AJEEE paper template and submit your paper at the PAPER SUBMISSION page.
 
ADBU Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (AJEEE) - ISSN: 2582-0257 is an International peer-reviewed Open-Access Online journal in the English language that publishes scientific articles which contribute new novel experimentation and theoretical work in all areas of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and its applications.

* The views, interpretations and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author(s) and should not be considered to reflect the opinions of the Editorial Board of this journal- AJEEE.

Creative Commons License