Soil Moisture Content Detection based on GNSS Reflectometry

GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) is a technique that uses GNSS signals reflected from the earth's surface for remote sensing applications. Soil moisture, thickness and structure of the snow cover on the northern plains, the wind speed at the sea surface, the polar ice caps and surface roughness are the parameters that can be determined by the analysis of reflected waveforms of GNSS. The GNSS reflect signal is sensitive to soil moisture, which means that GNSS-R has a potential in Soil Moisture Content (SMC) estimation. By keeping soil patches at the reflection paths of satellites, soil moisture content of these patches with the help of reflected signal SNR can be measured. Volumetric soil moisture content of three soil patches which are kept over the specular ground reflection paths of three geostationary satellites of NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) are measured simultaneously. Different conditions on soil patches in a controlled manner could be given. The specific values between the reflected and directed wave are used to calculate the soil moisture content. This research investigates the presence of moisture content in the soil by using NavIC reflected signals.