scholarly journals GNSS-Reflectometry and Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture: A Review of Measurement Techniques, Methods, and Applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Komi Edokossi ◽  
Andres Calabia ◽  
Shuanggen Jin ◽  
Iñigo Molina

The understanding of land surface-atmosphere energy exchange is extremely important for predicting climate change and weather impacts, particularly the influence of soil moisture content (SMC) on hydrometeorological and ecological processes, which are also linked to human activities. Unfortunately, traditional measurement methods are expensive and cumbersome over large areas, whereas measurements from satellite active and passive microwave sensors have shown advantages for SMC monitoring. Since the launch of the first passive microwave satellite in 1978, more and more progresses have been made in monitoring SMC from satellites, e.g., the Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) and Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) missions in the last decade. Recently, new methods using signals of opportunity have been emerging, highlighting the Global Navigation Satellite Systems-Reflectometry (GNSS-R), which has wide applications in Earth’s surface remote sensing due to its numerous advantages (e.g., revisiting time, global coverage, low cost, all-weather measurements, and near real-time) when compared to the conventional observations. In this paper, a detailed review on the current SMC measurement techniques, retrieval approaches, products, and applications is presented, particularly the new and promising GNSS-R technique. Recent advances, future prospects and challenges are given and discussed.

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 300
Author(s):  
Aggeliki Kyriou ◽  
Konstantinos Nikolakopoulos ◽  
Ioannis Koukouvelas ◽  
Paraskevi Lampropoulou

Landslides are posing a significant global hazard as they occur instantaneously with devastating consequences. The development of new remote sensing technologies and innovative processing techniques over the past few years opened up new horizons and perspectives in landslide monitoring research. The purpose of the current research is the integrated monitoring of an active landslide, located in Western Greece, using low-cost and high-repeatability remote sensing data like those obtained by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Repeated UAV campaigns and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) surveys were performed to assess the activity of the landslide and determine its kinematic behavior. UAV data were processed using structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry and the generated high-detailed orthophotos and digital surface models (DSMs) were submitted in further processing procedure in an ArcGIS environment. Regarding the GNSS data, a new low-cost technique for the estimation of the direction and the rate of movement of the displaced material was developed. The repeated measurements were displayed in a vector format in a three-axis diagram. In addition, GNSS measurements were used to verify the results of the photogrammetric processing. The final assessment was carried out taking into account geological data such as petrographic and crystallographic features of the material of the landslide. It was observed that the lithology and consequently the petrographic properties of the material plays a key role regarding the activity of the landslide.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Camps ◽  
Mercedes Vall·llossera ◽  
Hyuk Park ◽  
Gerard Portal ◽  
Luciana Rossato

The potential of Global Navigation Satellite Systems-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) techniques to estimate land surface parameters such as soil moisture (SM) is experimentally studied using 2014–2017 global data from the UK TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) mission. The approach is based on the analysis of the sensitivity to SM of different observables extracted from the Delay Doppler Maps (DDM) computed by the Space GNSS Receiver–Remote Sensing Instrument (SGR-ReSI) instrument using the L1 (1575.42 MHz) left-hand circularly-polarized (LHCP) reflected signals emitted by the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation satellites. The sensitivity of different GNSS-R observables to SM and its dependence on the incidence angle is analyzed. It is found that the sensitivity of the calibrated GNSS-R reflectivity to surface soil moisture is ~0.09 dB/% up to 30° incidence angle, and it decreases with increasing incidence angles, although differences are found depending on the spatial scale used for the ground-truth, and the region. The sensitivity to subsurface soil moisture has been also analyzed using a network of subsurface probes and hydrological models, apparently showing some dependence, but so far results are not conclusive.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 2356-2372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Egido ◽  
Marco Caparrini ◽  
Giulio Ruffini ◽  
Simonetta Paloscia ◽  
Emanuele Santi ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Veras Guimarães ◽  
Fabrice Ardhuin ◽  
Peter Sutherland ◽  
Mickael Accensi ◽  
Michel Hamon ◽  
...  

Abstract. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and modern motion-sensor packages allow the measurement of ocean surface waves with low-cost drifters. Drifting along or across current gradients provides unique measurements of wave-current interactions. In this study, we investigate the response of several combinations of GNSS receiver, motion-sensor package and hull design in order to define a prototype surface kinematic buoy (SKIB) that is particularly optimized for measuring wave-current interactions, including relatively short wave components (relative frequency around 1 Hz) that are important for air-sea interactions and remote sensing applications. The comparison with existing Datawell Directional Waverider and SWIFT buoys, as well as stereo-video imagery demonstrates the accuracy of SKIB. The use of low-cost accelerometers and a spherical ribbed and skirted hull design provide acceptable heave spectra, while velocity estimates from GNSS receivers yield a mean direction and directional spread. Using a low-power acquisition board allows autonomous deployments over several months with data transmitted by satellite. The capability to measure current-induced wave variations is illustrated with data acquired in a macro-tidal coastal environment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Cobb ◽  
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni ◽  
Philip Dames

AbstractThe methodical recording and representation of spatial data are central to archaeological fieldwork and research. Until recently, centimeter-level precise geolocation equipment was the exclusive domain of researchers who could afford setups costing tens of thousands of dollars. However, high-quality measurements are being made more accessible by rapidly evolving technologies. These new tools, when used together with mobile technology for efficiently recording field data, open up the possibility of capturing the precise location of every find during an archaeological surface survey. An important step in reaching the desired outcome—centimeter-level recording for all—is experimentation with a variety of emerging low-cost setups. Accordingly, we tested the Reach and Reach RS, differential global navigation satellite systems (dGNSS) equipment produced by the company Emlid, during a surface survey in Armenia in June 2018. Our field application demonstrates that the use of dGNSS is already possible and that the described advances in precision enable improved recording and representation of spatial data.


2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Czopik ◽  
Tomasz Kraszewski

The GNSS (GNSS — Global Navigation Satellite Systems) receivers can be utilized to obtain accurate time markers. The preliminary results of the cheap GNSS receivers’ tests are presented in the paper. The one receiver’s price (including antenna) does not exceed 30 $. The studies on the use of receivers in the time synchronization systems were executed. Three identical models of receiver modules were used. The 1PPS (1PPS — 1 Pulse Per Second) signals available on the receiver’s output were used. The 1PPS’s main time characteristics were described. Delay times between different receivers 1PPS signals were measured. Measurements were taken using 1 GHz oscilloscope and precise time/frequency counter T3200U. Keywords: time synchronization, 1PPS, GNSS, GPS time


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shady Zahran ◽  
Adel Moussa ◽  
Naser El-Sheimy

The last decade has witnessed a wide spread of small drones in many civil and military applications. With the massive advancement in the manufacture of small and lightweight Inertial Navigation System (INS), navigation in challenging environments became feasible. Navigation of these small drones mainly depends on the integration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and INS. However, the navigation performance of these small drones deteriorates quickly when the GNSS signals are lost, due to accumulated errors of the low-cost INS that is typically used in these drones. During GNSS signal outages, another aiding sensor is required to bound the drift exhibited by the INS. Before adding any additional sensor on-board the drones, there are some limitations that must be taken into considerations. These limitations include limited availability of power, space, weight, and size. This paper presents a novel unconventional method, to enhance the navigation of autonomous drones in GNSS denied environment, through a new utilization of hall effect sensor to act as flying odometer “Air-Odo” and vehicle dynamic model (VDM) for heading estimation. The proposed approach enhances the navigational solution by estimating the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) velocity, and heading and fusing these measurements in the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) of the integrated system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Fuhrmann ◽  
Matthew C. Garthwaite ◽  
Simon McClusky

Abstract Radar Corner Reflectors (CR) are increasingly used as reference targets for land surface deformation measurements with the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique. When co-located with ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) infrastructure, InSAR observations at CR can be used to integrate relative measurements of surface deformation into absolute reference frames defined by GNSS. However, CR are also a potential source of GNSS multipath effects and may therefore have a detrimental effect on the GNSS observations. In this study, we compare daily GNSS coordinate time series and 30-second signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) observations for periods before and after CR deployment at a GNSS site. We find that neither the site coordinates nor the SNR values are significantly affected by the CR deployment, with average changes being within 0.1 mm for site coordinates and within 1 % for SNR values. Furthermore, we generate empirical site models by spatially stacking GNSS observation residuals to visualise and compare the spatial pattern in the surroundings of GNSS sites. The resulting stacking maps indicate oscillating patterns at elevation angles above 60 degrees which can be attributed to the CR deployed at the analysed sites. The effect depends on the GNSS antenna used at a site with the magnitude of multipath patterns being around three times smaller for a high-quality choke ring antenna compared to a ground plane antenna without choke rings. In general, the CR-induced multipath is small compared to multipath effects at other GNSS sites located in a different environment (e. g. mounted on a building).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document