1

EECS 823Microwave Remote Sensing

Fall 2014 ProjectBackground Information, Scope, and Expectations

2

Outline

• Purpose• Potential project activities• Constraints

3

PurposeThe class project will be used to assess the student’s grasp of the

course material, their ability apply the course concepts to a meaningful problem.

The project should touch on the major course topics covered, e.g., electromagnetics, antennas, atmospheric effects or scattering, radiometry/radiometers or radar.

With these goals, the project will remove the need for a final exam.That’s right – no final exam for this course. So do your very best on the project

as it will be my primary measure of your understanding of the course material. The final course grade will be based on 60% homework and 40% project.

If you are dissatisfied with this change, please contact me and I’ll develop a final exam for you so that the original 40% homework, 20% project, 40% final exam formula will be applied.

Do not plagiarize! Plagiarized work will result in a zero score on the project for the guilty party (which will devastate their course final grade).

4

Project topicsI am presenting a range of candidate project topics.

Other topic concepts may be entertained.

Please consult with me early in the process to get approval.

Listed below are the candidate topics:• Develop proposal for novel radar and/or radiometer system to

address a real application (driven by science, economics, or military needs).

• Report on existing airborne or spaceborne microwave sensor (radar or radiometer).

5

Develop proposal for novel radar/radiometer system for real application

Following the examples of radar and radiometer application presentations, develop a proposal for a new (not previously published or reported) radar or radiometer for a real application.

The proposal must:• address the problem’s significance (scientific, economic, or military)

• identify the key measurable parameters (e.g., soil moisture, snow thickness, trace gas concentration, etc.)

• provide system specifications for a microwave sensor capable of measuring these parameters (e.g., operating frequency, sensor geometry, polarization, spatial/radiometric resolution, measurement update rate, etc.)

• provide system requirements (e.g., antenna dimensions, spectrum requirements, platform ground speed, rough order-of-magnitude estimates for payload mass and power, data rates, algorithm for estimating parameter of interest from measured data, etc.)

• results from numerical simulation of key processes

• analyze error sources and their impact on the measurement accuracy and precision

• conclusions

6

Develop proposal for novel radar/radiometer system for real application

Possible topics – a sensor or sensor suite to:• produce an annual water inventory for mountainous areas to aid

hydrologists plan for freshwater availability and flood reliefFor example airborne sensor that accurately maps snow pack thickness annually in a

mountain chain (e.g., Rockies, Himalayas, Andes, etc.)

• map density and 3-D spatial distribution of volcanic ash at concentrations that impact air traffic with sufficient spatial and temporal coverage to economically benefit a continent

• map of ocean vector winds and all-weather sea-surface temperatures for improved understanding of weather and ocean ecosystems

• 3-D map of water vapor distribution and temperature within hurricanes or cyclones

• map ocean, lake, and river water levels for ocean and inland water dynamic models and predictions

• measure high-frequency, all-weather temperature and humidity soundings for weather forecasting and sea-surface temperature

• detect spaceborne threats (asteroids, comets, space junk) using solar RF emissions as illuminator

More topics are available at NASA website, science.nasa.gov

7

Report on existing airborne or spaceborne microwave sensor

The report must address:– the sensor’s objective and mission

• system designers, launch date, orbital parameters, etc.

– the underlying physics that enables sensor to remotely sense the parameters of interest

– the sensor system• its specifications, flight characteristics, derived sensor parameters (antenna

beamwidth, range resolution, radiometric resolution, etc.), data rate

– the algorithm for extracting the parameters of interest from the measured data

– examples of measured data

– examples of processed data

– a science application where data from this sensor was applied to produce new finding

– recently acquired data, when possible, where it can be found, and examples of raw and processed data

– conclusion assessing capabilities and limitations of this sensor

8

Report on existing airborne or spaceborne microwave sensor

Example systems include:

ACRIMSAT – Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitormeasures Total Solar Irradiance (TSI)

AMSR-E – Japan's Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometerused to obtain images of the sea ice covers of both polar regions

CloudSatadvanced radar to "slice" through clouds to see their vertical structure

QuikSCAT – Quick Scatterometerrecords sea-surface wind speed and direction data under all weather and cloud conditions

TRMM/TMI – Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission’s Microwave ImagerTropical Rainfall Measuring Mission’s (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) is a passive

microwave sensor designed to provide quantitative rainfall information over a wide swath under the TRMM satellite

WMAP – Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probedifferential microwave radiometers that measure temperature differences between two

points on the sky

CONSERT – COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission

Rosetta’s means for probing the comet’s internal structure

More missions can be found at science.nasa.gov/earth-science/missions science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/missions

9

Project Constraints• Team size: 1 person

• Project proposals due by Tues 2 Dec 2014– Proposal specifies topic, scope, and brief project outline

• Presentation to class– 10-minute presentation duration with additional 5 minutes for questions– Presentations begin on 9 Dec 2014 (students may reserve presentation

times once presentation is complete)– Evaluation based on content, quality, clarity

• Project report– Report contents

• Cover page (1 page) – includes title, author, abstract• Report body (12 pages max)• References page(s) – cite references properly (avoid plagiarism)• Appendices – data, graphs, program code, minimal text

– Format: All margins 1”, 11-pt Arial font, line spacing of 1.5– Due at 5 pm on 15 Dec 2014 (scheduled day for final exam)– Electronic submission, pdf format– Evaluation based on technical content, writing, format, etc.

10

Project reportProject report must include:

– Clear problem statement– Outline of the solution– System description and analysis– Data analysis and interpretation– Conclusion assessing capabilities and limitations of solution

– Be thorough and rigorous– Cite references appropriately– Do not duplicate the work of others– Document your work (provide Matlab code where appropriate)– Point out difficulties or results you know are incorrect– Discuss your findings – simply presenting a final plot is inadequate; a

discussion of it’s meaning and interpretation is required– Propose what others might try in the future to yield improved results