Design of an Instrument for Soil Moisture and Above Ground Biomass Remote Sensing Using Signals of Opportunity

Benjamin R Nold, Purdue University

Abstract

Measurements of soil moisture are a crucial component for understanding the global water and carbon cycle, weather forecasting, climate models, drought prediction, and agriculture production. Active and passive microwave radar instruments are currently in use for remote sensing of soil moisture. Signals of Opportunity (SoOp) based remote sensing has recently emerged as a complementary method for soil moisture remote sensing. SoOp reuses general digital communication signals allowing the reuse of allocated wireless communication signal bands for science measurements. This thesis developed a tower based SoOp instrument implementing frequencies in the P-Band and S-Band. Two field campaigns were conducted using this new instrument during the summers of 2017 and 2018 at Purdue’s Agronomy Center for Research and Education.

Degree

M.Sc.

Advisors

Bell, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Climate Change|Remote sensing|Agriculture|Atmospheric sciences|Hydrologic sciences|Meteorology|Soil sciences

Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server
.

Share

COinS