Study of radio frequency interference effects on radiometry bands in urban environments

Abstract

Microwave radiometers are very accurate passive sensors that have been successfully used in Earth remote sensing during the last decades. Microwave radiometers measure thermal noise, therefore any other signal (radio-frequency interference or RFI) present in the band modifies the value of the measured power, and the corresponding estimated antenna temperature, from which the geophysical parameters will be retrieved. An on-going RFI survey shows how corrupted is the spectrum “protected” L-band in the city of Barcelona. This type of studies should help to validate or discard the measurements made there, and in other locations, and also to take further actions against RFI. Detection and mitigation techniques are used to validate results.