Method for Remote Assessment of Planar Layered Media by Polarization Backscattering Relations

Introduction. The safety of conducting activities on the snow and ice cover of a reservoir depends directly on the accuracy of its condition assessment. This is particularly important when landing a helicopter on unequipped and unexplored snow covered areas or frozen water bodies for transporting goods and people, evacuating victims, or conducting search and rescue operations. The ability to remotely assess the characteristics of snow and ice layers and reconstruct their structure makes it possible to conclude whether the selected site is suitable for helicopter landing or whether an alternative site, which meets the necessary requirements, should be selected. Ultimately, this determines the safety of aircraft landing.
Aim. Development of a non invasive method for assessing planar layered media based on polarization relationships of backscattering signals with vertical and horizontal polarizations within a helicopter mounted subsurface sensing radar system.
Materials and methods. The Engee platform and the Julia programming language were used to simulate the operation of a radar system for subsurface sensing.
Results. An innovative method for remote assessment of the characteristics of planar layered media is proposed. The approach is based on analyzing the polarization properties of backscattered signals from the interfaces of layers within a planar layered medium, using both vertical and horizontal polarizations. Specific ranges of polarization backscattering ratios that correlate with varying densities of snow and ice layers at particular incidence angles are identified.
Conclusion. The proposed non invasive method for analyzing planar layered media based on polarization characteristics of backscattered radio signals opens up new possibilities for the assessment of snow and ice cover. This approach makes it possible to evaluate unprepared and unexplored snow covered sites, as well as reservoirs covered with snow and ice, for helicopter landing. A distinctive feature of the proposed method lies in its ability to detect and characterize all layers within a multilayer environment, compared to existing methods that are limited to analyzing exclusively the near surface layer.

1. Kuprjashkin I. F., Lihachev V. P., Rjazancev L. B. Malogabaritnye mnogofunkcional'nye RLS s nepreryv-nym chastotno modulirovannym izlucheniem [Small Sized Multifunctional Radars with Continuous Fre-quency Modulated Radiation]. Moscow, Radiotehnika, 2020, 288 p. (In Russ.)

2. Mashkov V. G., Malyshev V. A., Prohorskij R. A. The Military Helicopter Type Aircraft Safe Landing Providing Concept. Vozdushnokosmicheskie sily`. Teor-iya i praktika. 2020, no. 16, pp. 76-89. (In Russ.)

3. Mashkov V. G., Malyshev V. A. Model Helicopter Type Aircraft Landing Control on an Unprepared Snow Covered Area. Modeling, Optimization and Information Technology. 2019, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 1-10. (In Russ.) doi: 10.26102/2310-6018/2019.27.4.037

4. Mashkov V. G., Malyshev V. A. Model Helicopter Type Aircraft Landing Control on a Water Body with Snow Ice Cover. Modeling, Optimization, and Infor-mation Technology. 2020, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1-9. (In Russ.) doi: 10.26102/2310-6018/2020.30.3.017

5. Mashkov V. G., Malyshev V. A. Sposob vybora ploshhadki dlja posadki vozdushnogo sudna ver-toletnogo tipa [The Method of Selecting a Landing Site for a Helicopter Type Aircraft]. Pat. RF, no. 2707275, 2019. (In Russ.)

6. Mashkov V. G., Malyshev V. A., Proxorskij R. A. Sposob ocenki vozmozhnosti posadki vozdushnogo sudna vertoljotnogo tipa na vodojom so snezhno ledjanym pokrovom [A Method for Assessing the Possibility of Land-ing a Helicopter Type Aircraft on a Body of Water with Snow and Ice Cover]. Pat. RF, no. 2737761, 2020. (In Russ.)

7. Sudarsan Krishnan. Modeling and simulation analysis of an FMCW radar for measuring snow thick-ness. Electronics and communication engineering. Avail-able at: https://ittc.ku.edu/research/thesis/documents/sudarsan_krishnan_thesis.pdf (accessed: 15.01.2025).

8. The Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation dated July 31, 2009 No. 128 "On approval of the Federal Aviation Regulations "Prepara-tion and performance of flights in civil aviation of the Russian Federation". Available at: https://base.garant.ru/196235/ (accessed: 15.01.2025).

9. Zapevalov A.S. Sposob distancionnogo opre-delenija otnositel'noj dijelektricheskoj pronicaemosti sredy pod granicej atmosfera okean [A Method for Remotely Determining the Relative Permittivity of a Medium under the Atmosphere Ocean Boundary]. Pat. RF, no. 2623668, 2017. (In Russ.)

10. Pinchuk A.N. The Probing Radio Signal Polari-zation Effect on Separation Efficiency of Surface Tar-get Response. Science and Education of the Bauman MSTU. 2015, no. 3, pp. 140-152. (In Russ.) doi: 10.7463/0315.0760670

11. Malyshev V. A., Mashkov V. G. The Speed Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in the Snow Ice Underlying Surface. Radioengineering. 2020, vol. 84, no. 3 (5), pp. 40 54. (In Russ.) doi: 10.18127/j00338486-202003(05)-05

12. Glazovskij A. F., Macheret Ju. Ja. Voda v lednikah. Metody i rezul'taty geofizicheskih i dis-tancionnyh issledovanij [Water in Glaciers. Methods and Results of Geophysical and Remote Studies]. Mos-cow, GEOS, 2014, 528 p. (In Russ.)

13. Macheret Ju. Ja., Glazovsky A. F. Estimation of Absolute Water Content in Spitsbergen Glaciers From Radar Sounding Data. Polar Research. 2000, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 205 216. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-8369.2000.tb00344.x

14. Macheret Yu. Ya. Estimation of Water Content in Glaciers by Hyperbolic Reflections. Glaciological Research Materials. 2000, no. 89, pp. 3-10. (In Russ.)

15. Grinev A. Ju., Temchenko V. S., Bagno D. V. Radary podpoverxnostnogo zondirovanija. Monitoring i diagnostika sred i ob``ektov [Subsurface Sensing Radars. Monitoring and Diagnostics of Facility Environ-ments]. Moscow, Radiotexnika, 2013, 391 p. (In Russ.)

16. Kaz'min A. I., Fedjunin P. A. Restoration of the Structure of Electrophysical Parameters of Multilayer Dielectric Materials and Coatings Based on the Frequency Dependence of the Field Attenuation Coefficient of a Surface Electromagnetic Wave. Measurement Techniques. 2019, no. 9, pp. 39 45. (In Russ.) doi: 10.32446/0368-1025it.2019-9-39-45

17. Fedjunin P. A., Kaz'min A. I., Manin V. A. Mi-crowave Method of Flaw Detection of Radio Absorbing Coatings and a Device for Its Implementation. Testing. Diagnostics. 2017, no. 11, pp. 32-39. (In Russ.) doi: 10.14489/td.2017.11.pp.032 039

18. Brehovskih L. M. Volny v sloistyh sredah [Waves in Layered Media]. Moscow, Nauka, 1973, 343 p. (In Russ.)

19. Shoshin E. L., Suhanjuk A. M., Pljusnin I. I. Sposob izmerenija tolshhiny snezhnogo pokrova [The Method of Measuring the Thickness of the Snow Cover]. Pat. RF, no. 2262718, 2005. (In Russ.)

20. Mashkov V. G. Method for Remote State Identification Snow Ice Cover by the Ratio of Fresnel Reflection Coefficients. J. of the Russian Universities. Radioelectronics. 2020, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 46-56. (In Russ.) doi: 10.32603/1993-8985-2020-23-5-46-56

21. Kotljakov V. M., Macheret Ju. Ja., Sosnovskij A. V., Glazovskij A. F. Speed of Radio Wave Propagation in Dry and Wet Snow. Ice and Snow. 2012, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 45 56. (In Russ.) doi: 10.15356/2076-6734-2017-1-45-56

22. Mashkov V. G., Malyshev V. A. Obespechenie bezopasnoj posadki vozdushnogo sudna vertoletnogo tipa v usloviyah nedostatochnoj informativnosti zakabinnoj obstanovki [Ensuring of Helicopter Type Aircraft Safety Landing Under the Conditions of Insufficient External Information Content]. Moscow, Radio-tekhnika, 2022, 304 p. (In Russ.)

23. Mashkov V. G., Milyah A. E. Ustrojstvo vybora ploshchadki pri posadke po vertolyotnomu [Helicopter Landing Site Selection Device]. Pat. RF, no. 2852744, 2025. (In Russ.)

24. Shostak A. S., Zagoskin V. V., Luk'janov S. P., Karaush A. S. On the Possibility of Determining the Dielectric Constant of the Upper Layers of the Under-lying Media from the Measured Reflection Coefficients During Inclined Sounding by Plane Waves of Vertical and Horizontal Polarization in the Microwave Range. J. of Radio Electronics. 1999, no. 11, pp. 1-12. (In Russ.)

25. Valeev G. G. Sposob izmerenija otnositel'noj kompleksnoj dijelektricheskoj pronicaemosti materiala s poterjami v SVCh diapazone [A method for Measuring the Relative Complex Dielectric Constant of a Material with Losses in the Microwave Range]. Pat. RF, no. 2613810, 2017. (In Russ.)