generali
Overview
The Microwave Remote Sensing Group (MWRSG) of the Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC-CNR) is active since 1980 for the study of Theory and Applications of Microwave Remote Sensing of natural surfaces
Il Gruppo di Telerilevamento a Microonde (GTM) dell’Istituto di Fisica Applicata (IFAC-CNR) è attivo dal 1980 nello studio della teoria e delle applicazioni del telerilevamento a microonde di superfici naturali
Projects
The MWRSG main projects
Regional projects:
-
HYDROCONTROLLER
Piattaforma di monitoraggio e previsione della risorsa idrica su bacini idrologici
National Space Programs:
ASI:
- NOWCASTING(PROSA)/SIASGE/HYDROCOSMO
PNRA
International Space Programs:
NASA:
- SIRC-XSAR/SRTM/SMAP
ESA:
- ERS1-2, AO3/ENVISAT
- Sentinel-1
- BISTATIC/LEiMON/GRASS
- SMOS (Ongoing)
- DOMEX (Ongoing)
-
COREH20/ALGOSNOW (Ongoing)
JAXA:
- JERS-1/ALOS-PALSAR
- ADEOS/AMSR-E
- GCOM-W (Ongoing)
EC Programs
Mission Proposals
ESA (Core)
NASA/ASI (SMAP: Soil Moisture Active/Passive mission)
SIASGE
Research
Research topics and activities
Electromagnetic modelling
- Coherent and incoherent models of microwave emission and scattering from bare, vegetated or snow-covered soils
Image Processing
- Geocoding, calibration, filtering and DEM corrections of satellite images
SAR Interferometry
- Coherence analysis and interferometric modeling
Experiments
- Experimental campaigns on natural surfaces (agricultural fields, forests, snow covered areas) with ground based and airborne microwave and infrared sensors
- Lab. measurements of emission and scattering properties of natural material
Retrieval algorithms
- Generation of maps of geophysical parameters from microwave satellite data: Soil moisture (SMC), Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), Snow Depth (SD), vegetation biomass (PWC)
Instrumentation (IROE: Instrument of research for Observations of the Earth)
- Multifrequency/polarimetric airborne microwave radiometers for field experiments at L- (1.4 GHz), C- (5.6 GHz), X- (10 GHz), Ku- (19 GHz), Ka- (37 GHz) bands integrated with a thermal infrared sensor (8-14 μm)
Education
- Lessons, seminars, PhD courses
Staff
Research Group Staff
| Simonetta Paloscia |
Senior Scientist (Leader of the Group) |
S.Paloscia(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6494 |
| Giovanni Macelloni | Scientist |
G.Macelloni(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6495 |
| Emanuele Santi, | Scientist | E.Santi(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6431 |
| Marco Brogioni | Scientist (contractor) | M.Brogioni(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6432 |
| Simone Pettinato | Scientist (contractor) |
S.Pettinato(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6463 |
| Giacomo Fontanelli | PhD student | G.Fontanelli(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6493 |
| Francesco Montomoli | PhD student | F.Montomoli(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6464 |
| Enrico Palchetti | Technician (part-time) | E.Palchetti(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6494 |
| Paolo Pampaloni, | Head of Research (Associated ) |
P.Pampaloni(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6462 |
| Alberto Toccafondi | Full Professor (Associated ) |
albertot(at)dii.unisi.it | +39055522 6462 |
| Valerio Venturi | Technician (Associated ) | V.Venturi(at)ifac.cnr.it | +39055522 6494 |
Laboratory
Main facilities available in MWRSG Laboratory
- 5 portable microwaves radiometers
Use: Microwave emission measurement in different environments and from different platforms (aircraft, hydraulic boom, metallic frame)
Characteristics: set of 5 microwave radiometers at 1.4, 10, 6.8, 19 e 37 GHz for environment monitoring
- Thermal infrared radiometers
Use: Thermal emission measurements in in different environments and from different platforms (aircraft, hydraulic boom, metallic frame)
Characteristics: thermal infrared radiometers at 8-14 μm
- 1 TDR and 1 FDR system for soil moisture content measurements in the field
Use: Non-destructive measurement of dielectric constant and volumetric soil moisture content in the field
Characteristics: Time Domain Reflectometry Probes and Frequency Domain Reflectomery at around 1 GHz
- 1 pressure chamber for the measurement of leaf water potential
- 1 needle profilometer for the measurement of soil surface roughness
- Probes for the measurement of air, soil and snow temperature
- 1 probe for snow dielectric constant measurements
- 1 laboratory of basic electronics
- 1 industrial freezer for experiments on media at low temperatures
- Commercial and in-house softwares dedicated to the processing of SAR images and radiometric data
