High-Precision Calibration and Polarimetric and Interferometric Image Processing Technology

Dear Colleagues,

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) plays a vital role in Earth observation. With the launch of new spaceborne SAR missions, SAR data have become increasingly diverse in terms of frequency bands (L/S/C/X/Ku), polarimetric modes (dual, full, and compact polarization), imaging modes (Stripmap, Spotlight, ScanSAR, and TopSAR), satellite orbits (GEO, MEO, LEO), and constellation configurations (single-satellite, dual-satellite, and large-scale multi-satellite constellations). On the other hand, miniaturized and lightweight airborne SAR systems, such as UAV SAR, have become an important technological trend. This diversity brings both challenges and opportunities for developing high-precision calibration and advanced processing techniques to support quantitative SAR data applications. Calibration is the basis of quantitative SAR applications. High-precision calibration methods are essential for ensuring geometric, radiometric, polarimetric, and interferometric accuracy, enabling the generation of high-quality, multi-dimensional SAR datasets. SAR data are also susceptible to various distortions caused by environmental, instrumental, and system-related factors, making SAR data processing increasingly complex. Therefore, it is vital to develop dedicated processing algorithms to estimate and mitigate these distortions. Novel processing techniques are urgently needed to enhance the quality of high-resolution SAR, polarimetric SAR, and polarimetric interferometric SAR data, thereby advancing their quantitative applications in diverse remote sensing scenarios.

This Special Issue will bring together high-quality contributions that focus on recent advances in the “High-Precision Calibration and Polarimetric and Interferometric Image Processing Technology”. Both original research articles with innovative ideas and review articles discussing state-of-the-art research are welcome.

We would like to invite high-quality research papers on the following topics:

• Novel in-orbit processing techniques: Edge computing and real-time processing, intelligent in-orbit processing, lightweight neural networks for in-orbit processing, and MGC/AGC;
• Calibration methods and techniques: Radiometric, polarimetric, and interferometric calibration; cross-calibration; in-orbit calibration; automatic calibration for large satellite constellations; long-term calibration; and satellite health monitoring;
• SAR data validation approaches: Systematic error analysis and modeling and AI-based intelligent assessment techniques;
• Pre-processing and correction techniques: Terrain correction, speckle noise filtering, Faraday rotation compensation, atmospheric delay correction, and super-resolution reconstruction;
• UAV-SAR data processing: UAV attitude compensation, high-precision calibration, real-time processing, and intelligent processing;
• Multi-source data processing: High-precision image matching, geolocation, multi-baseline InSAR, PolInSAR, TomoSAR, and multi-dimensional data fusion and applications using both physical modeling and deep learning techniques.

Dr. Fengli Zhang
Dr. Kun Li
Prof. Dr. Chang Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.