An empirical model for the vegetation screening effect in the remote sensing monitoring

TL;DR

This paper presents an empirical study on how vegetation affects microwave signal attenuation in remote sensing, using laboratory experiments to analyze the impact across various frequencies and vegetation types.

Contribution

It introduces a laboratory experimental setup to measure microwave attenuation coefficients in vegetation, considering different frequencies, water content, and vegetation types.

Findings

Attenuation coefficients vary with frequency and water content.

Different vegetation types show distinct microwave attenuation behaviors.

The model helps improve remote sensing accuracy over vegetated areas.

Abstract

A layer of vegetation over the soil surface absorbs microwave radiation emitted from the soil and some objects located under the vegetation canopy. This paper investigates the microwave propagation process within the vegetation layer and evaluate the attenuation coefficients. For this purpose, laboratory experimental test bench is synthesized. It is based on the special rectangular camera-waveguide with transmission and receiving wide band horn antennas and allows the study of the attenuation coefficient dependence on the frequency of 0.8-10 GHz range and water content in the different vegetation elements. Evaluations of attenuation coefficients are implemented over a wide frequency range for deciduous and coniferous forests with separation consideration of the branches and trunks as the canopy fragments.