L&S BAND AIRBORNE SAR

Research Announcement for

L&S BAND AIRBORNE SAR

Announcement Date: 20 JULY 2016 Proposal Submission Deadline: 30 SEPTEMBER 2016

SPACE APPLICATIONS CENTRE INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION

AHMEDABAD ? 380015

CONTENT

Sl.

Topic

1.0

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT

1.1 Who can submit a Proposal?

2.0

DESCRIPTION OF THE AIRBORNE SAR

3.0

RESEARCH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

4.0

DATA DISTRIBUTION

4.1 Data Policy

4.2 Data Distribution

5.0

FUNDING SUPPORT

6.0

RESPONSIBILITIES OF PIs

6.1 Interim Reports

6.2 Final Report and Deliverables

7.0

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

7.1 General Conditions 7.2 Proposal content 7.3 How to Submit Proposals

8.0

SELECTION OF PROPOSALS

8.1 Evaluation and Selection Procedures 8.2 Evaluation Criteria 8.3 Follow-on Action

9.0

CANCELLATION AND POSTPONEMENT OF R.A.

10.0

SCHEDULE

11.0

CONTACT

Appendix-1: Airborne SAR System Description Appendix-2: Observation Strategy and Data Products Appendix-3: Format of the Proposal Appendix-4: Format for Declaration

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1.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (R.A.)

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in collaboration with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing a Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) in L and S band frequencies. As part of this, Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO is realizing the S-band SAR and JPL-NASA is developing the L-band SAR. As a pre-cursor to the space-borne SAR development, an airborne SAR in L& S band has been planned. Development of an airborne L & S band SAR prior to the NISAR mission is crucial for development of tools, techniques and methods for utilization of NISAR data. The airborne SAR with specifications similar to that of NISAR is expected to make the Indian scientific community well prepared for optimum utilization of NISAR data. The proposed dual-frequency airborne SAR will provide invaluable data for various land and ocean applications.

Research Announcement (RA) by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space (DOS), Government of India, solicits proposals for scientific research using data from L & S band Airborne SAR, which will be commenced in late 2016. Proposals are solicited for the following categories:

Scientific research leading to development of tools, techniques and methods for SAR data utilization

Calibration and validation of algorithms and data products

The RA also aims at capacity building in the country in applications of SAR data for various land and ocean applications as mentioned above and strongly encourages research scholars to take up and pursue Ph.D. degrees in microwave remote sensing using SAR data especially in the fast growing and exciting field of high spatial resolution microwave data analysis and utilization.

The RA also encourages proposals for development of polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data processing and analysis tools or software. Research proposals on development of techniques for calibration and validation of algorithms and data products are also solicited.

1.1 Who can submit a Proposal?

Proposals could be submitted by individuals or a group of scientists, academicians belonging to recognized institutions, universities and government organizations of India. Only those having at least a minimum remaining service of four years before superannuation are eligible to lead the project as PI/Co-PI. The proposals must be forwarded through the Head of the Institution, with appropriate assurance for providing necessary facilities for carrying out the Research Announcement (RA) project.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE AIRBORNE SAR

The dual-frequency SAR being developed is aimed to be operated initially in a Beech craft, currently available with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad. The system is being designed to be operated at an altitude of 8 km with a platform velocity of 120 m/s. The system design for L&S band airborne SAR is carried out taking into consideration, the system specifications of NISAR. The center frequencies are maintained at 3200 MHz for S-band SAR and 1250 MHz for L-band SAR, with bandwidth options of 25 MHz, 50 MHz and 75 MHz, similar to the NISAR. The sensor will operate in all the polarization modes, viz. single, dual, compact and full polarimetry. Apart from simultaneous mode of operation, the system may be operated in L band only or S band only modes also. Detailed system specifications are shown in Appendix-1

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It may be noted that, due to operational constraints the aircraft cannot acquire data over high altitude areas such as Himalayan glaciers and high altitude lakes. Also, the system is not designed for interferometric SAR (InSAR) imaging.

3.0 RESEARCH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The various data product from L&S band airborne SAR is expected to contribute significantly to the advancement of science. The RA is primarily aimed at involving Indian scientific community, who is working in Indian institutions in utilizing L&S band airborne SAR data for various applications such as Earth environment monitoring, natural resource exploration, disaster monitoring, and regional development planning. The researchers are encouraged to develop tools, techniques and methods for utilization of L&S band SAR data for various applications and bio-geophysical parameter retrieval, which will improve the preparedness and capability for NISAR applications.

Following are the major objectives of L&S band airborne SAR:

Development of tools, techniques and methods for applications of SAR data for Management of natural resources Enhanced crop and vegetation monitoring Ecosystem dynamics study Coastal process monitoring Ocean parameter retrieval Land geo-physical parameter retrieval Geological applications Urban applications Weather and hydrological forecasting Natural disaster management Other applications

Development of schemes for calibration and validation of algorithms and data products

This includes development of algorithms that extract geophysical parameters from the calibrated images and ground truth data and validation of the estimated geophysical parameters using the above algorithms.

Software development for polarimetric SAR data processing and analysis

The RA offers preference of funding support to the research proposals, which culminates into PhD degree of a research scholar in any Indian university/ Institute. Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad would provide necessary support to the research scholars for data analysis and software training at its laboratories.

4.0 DATA DISTRIBUTION

4.1 Data Policy

Data policy will be governed by the Government of India policy for airborne data acquisition, sharing and distribution. As per the Government of India guidelines, data acquisition over security installations, international frontiers and other politically sensitive areas are restricted. For this RA, the data will be provided free of charge to PIs who agree to the following conditions:

1) ISRO possesses all intellectual property rights of the provided data and products. 2) Provided data shall be utilized only for the peaceful and non-commercial purposes.

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3) Provided data shall be utilized only for conducting RA activities complying with the research proposal.

4) Provided data shall not be transferred to any unauthorized third party or person except authorized Co-Investigators (Co- PIs), without ISRO's prior written consent.

Other detailed conditions, such as the number of the data scenes, shall be determined through review by ISRO. ISRO shall not be liable for non-acquisition of data or delay of data supply resulting from problems of airborne-SAR or ground facilities, or for reasons beyond the control of ISRO. 4.2 Data Distribution Airborne SAR data in level 1 (single look complex) and level-2 (multi-looked, geo-coded) in CEOS/GeoTiff format will be provided free of cost for the project subject to completion of the research agreement. The data will be provided to the PIs through FTP server located at SAC, Ahmedabad. Provision for distribution of level-0 (raw data) data for calibration purposes will be looked into by suitable committee. Applicants are highly recommended to plan their research proposals based on the observation strategy over Indian region only, as given in Appendix-2, and consider the observation constraints of airborne SAR.

5.0 FUNDING SUPPORT A limited number of proposals selected for execution will be provided funding support. However, all qualified projects will be provided with free airborne SAR data as per requirement or recommendation of the project evaluation committee. Funding support will be limited to salary of a research scholar, contingencies and limited travel to attend project meetings and workshops as recommended by the project evaluation committee. As mentioned earlier, preference for funding support will be given to the proposals with a research scholar registered for PhD in Indian universities/institutes.

6.0 RESPONSIBILITIES OF PIs 6.1 Interim Reports The PIs will be required to submit interim reports on the status of their researches in the format given by ISRO. They are required to participate in project review meetings held time to time by ISRO, and present the progress and accomplishments of their researches. In particular, PIs must submit an interim report to ISRO at the end of each financial year for interim evaluation. The successful PIs in the interim evaluation can continue their researches.

6.2 Final Report and Deliverables All PIs must submit their final reports in English and committed deliverables in terms of algorithms, tools and software to ISRO in accordance with instructions in the agreement. They must present their results or part of their results at a meeting, symposium or workshop conducted by ISRO.

7.0 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 7.1 General Conditions The proposals, which do not adhere strictly to the prescribed format, will not be accepted. The following are required in all proposals.

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