Terrain backscatter and oil sand exploration: Average reflectivity analysis

A barefaced terrain scattering model for oil sand exploration will enable the discrimination of different terrain types using incoherent polarimetric decomposition. We use computer electromagnetic modeling with finite integration techniques and a network analyzer based indoor polarimetric scatterometer to determine and analyze terrain backscatter. The terrain targets vary in dielectric, physical and chemical properties so we investigated their intrinsic material effects on electromagnetic reflectivity prior to obtaining the average normalized radar cross section. We obtain a strong correlation between the models and empirical measurement for co-polar (HH and VV) polarizations at different incident geometry and frequency L-, C- and X-band.