High-Resolution L-Band TomoSAR Imaging on Forest Canopies with UAV Swarm to Detect Dielectric Constant Anomaly

Abstract

A rigorous TomoSAR imaging procedure is proposed to acquire high-resolution L-band images of a forest in a local area of interest. A focusing function is derived to relate the backscattered signals to the reflectivity function of the forest canopies without resorting to calibration. A forest voxel model is compiled to simulate different tree species, with the dielectric constant modeled with the Maxwell-Garnett mixing formula. Five different inverse methods are applied on two forest scenarios under three signal-to-noise ratios in the simulations to validate the efficacy of the proposed procedure. The dielectric-constant profile of trees can be used to monitor the moisture content of the forest. The use of a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is feasible to carry out TomoSAR imaging over a specific area to pinpoint potential spots of wildfire hazards.