Apply Radiometric Calibration (Image Analyst)—ArcGIS Pro

Available with Image Analyst license.

Summary

Corrects systematic errors in the input synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and transforms radar reflectivity into radar backscatter on a reference plane.

Calibrating SAR imagery is necessary to obtain meaningful backscatter that can be related directly to the surface scattering properties of features in an image over flat terrain.

Usage

Use the Beta nought calibration method if you plan to apply terrain flattening using the Apply Radiometric Terrain Flattening tool in your workflow .
Use the Gamma nought calibration method if the region of interest (ROI) does not have terrain and spans over tens of kilometers. This will ensure that the calibrated backscatter values are independent of incident angle variations. For a single SAR image, variations in gamma nought values are due to terrain and surface scattering properties.
Only use the Sigma nought calibration method if the ROI is small and flat. For a single SAR image, variations in sigma nought values are due to incidence angle, terrain, and surface scattering properties.

Parameters

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Input Radar Data	The input radar data.	Raster Dataset; Raster Layer
Output Radar Data	The calibrated radar data.	Raster Dataset
Polarization Bands (Optional)	The polarization bands to be corrected. The first band is selected by default.	String
Calibration Type (Optional)	Specifies the type of calibration that will be applied. Beta nought—The radar reflectivity will be calibrated to backscatter for a unit area on the slant range. This is the default. Sigma nought— The backscatter returned will be calibrated to the antenna from a unit area on the ground with the plane locally tangent to the ellipsoid. This is known as the radar cross section. Sigma nought values vary due to incidence angle, wavelength, polarization, terrain, and surface scattering properties. Gamma nought—The backscatter returned will be calibrated to the antenna from a unit area aligned with the plane perpendicular to the slant range. This normalizes gamma nought using the incidence angle relative to the ellipsoid.Gamma nought values vary due to wavelength, polarization, terrain, and surface scattering properties.	String

ApplyRadiometricCalibration(in_radar_data, out_radar_data, {polarization_bands}, {calibration_type})

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_radar_data	The input radar data.	Raster Dataset; Raster Layer
out_radar_data	The calibrated radar data.	Raster Dataset
polarization_bands [polarization_bands,...] (Optional)	The polarization bands to be corrected. The first band is selected by default.	String
calibration_type (Optional)	Specifies the type of calibration that will be applied. BETA_NOUGHT—The radar reflectivity will be calibrated to backscatter for a unit area on the slant range. This is the default. SIGMA_NOUGHT— The backscatter returned will be calibrated to the antenna from a unit area on the ground with the plane locally tangent to the ellipsoid. This is known as the radar cross section. Sigma nought values vary due to incidence angle, wavelength, polarization, terrain, and surface scattering properties. GAMMA_NOUGHT—The backscatter returned will be calibrated to the antenna from a unit area aligned with the plane perpendicular to the slant range. This normalizes gamma nought using the incidence angle relative to the ellipsoid.Gamma nought values vary due to wavelength, polarization, terrain, and surface scattering properties.	String

Code sample

ApplyRadiometricCalibration example 1 (Python window)

This example performs the calibration using Beta nought.

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = "D:\Data\SAR\S1\20181014"
outRadar = arcpy.ia.ApplyRadiometricCalibration("IW_manifest_TNR.crf", 
     "VV;VH", "BETA_NOUGHT") 
outRadar.save("IW_manifest_TNR_CalB0.crf")

ApplyRadiometricCalibration example 2 (stand-alone script)

This example performs the calibration using Beta nought.

# Import system modules and check out ArcGIS Image Analyst extension license
import arcpy
arcpy.CheckOutExtension("ImageAnalyst")
from arcpy.ia import *

# Set local variables
in_radar = "D:\Data\SAR\S1\20181014\manifest_TNR.crf"
out_radar = "D:\Data\SAR\S1\20181014\manifest_TNR_CalB0.crf"
polarization =  "VV;VH"
calibration = "BETA_NOUGHT"

# Execute 
outRadar = arcpy.ia.ApplyRadiometricCalibration(in_radar, polarization, calibration)
outRadar.save(out_radar)

Environments

Cell Alignment, Cell Size, Compression, Current Workspace, Extent, Geographic Transformations, NoData, Output Coordinate System, Parallel Processing Factor, Pyramid, Raster Statistics, Resampling Method, Scratch Workspace, Snap Raster, Tile Size

Licensing information

Basic: Requires Image Analyst
Standard: Requires Image Analyst
Advanced: Requires Image Analyst