EECS 823 Microwave Remote Sensing

1. EECS 823Microwave Remote Sensing Spring 2013 ProjectInformation, Scope, and Expectations

2. Outline • Purpose • Potential project activities • Constraints • Report requirements

3. Purpose The 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 topics I 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. Each project will address two topics, one focused on a concept, the other focused on a system: • Report on a concept (see list) not adequately covered in class. • Report on existing airborne or spaceborne microwave sensor (radar or radiometer) not adequately covered in class (see list). The two selected topics shall include on one passive (radiometry related) and one active (radar related).There will be one report addressing both topics. Students will competitively bid on project topics.

5. Project topics to pick from Active sensing systems • TeraSAR-X • SeaWinds scatterometer aboard the ADEOS II • Jason-1 altimeter Passive sensing systems • TRMM/TMI – Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission’s Microwave • Aquarius – Sea Surface Salinity instrument • MOPITT – Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere Active sensing concepts • Displaced-phase center antenna (DPCA) for SAR imaging • Passive bistatic radar • Interferometric SAR with persistent scatterers Passive sensing concepts • Synthetic Aperture Radiometry • Null steering in antenna arrays • Angle-of-arrival (AOA) estimation

6. Reporting on sensing concept The report must address: • the concept’s objective • the underlying physics behind the concept • example describing a hypothetical implemention • its specifications, flight characteristics, derived sensor parameters (antenna beamwidth, range resolution, radiometric resolution, etc.), est. data rate (if possible) • the algorithm for extracting the parameters of interest from the measured data • a science application where data from this sensor could be applied • conclusion assessing capabilities and limitations of this sensor

7. Reporting 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 7

8. Project Constraints • Team size: 1 person • Project proposals due by Tues 9 Apr 2013 • Proposal specifies topic, scope, and brief project outline • Presentation to class • Presentations will be on May 7th and 9th (two per day, presentation sequence in alphabetical order by student’s last name) • 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 14 May 2013 • Electronic submission, pdf format • Evaluation based on technical content, writing, format, etc.

9. Project report Project report must include: • Clear introductory statement • Outline of the concept and underlying theory • 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