On the Impact of Rockfall Catch Fences on Ground-Based Radar Interferometry
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Original Paper Landslides Mariusz Frukacz I Andreas Wieser DOI 10.1007/s10346-017-0795-x Received: 21 July 2016 Accepted: 2 January 2017 On the impact of rockfall catch fences on ground-based © The Author(s) 2017 radar interferometry This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Rockfalls are major natural hazards in mountainous installed in a stable and safe location several kilometers from the regions and as such monitored if they pose a high risk to people monitored area. High accuracy (below 1 mm) and sampling rate or infrastructure. Ground-based radar interferometry is a relative- (1–5 min depending on the sensor) make TRI suitable for applica- ly new technique suitable for such monitoring. It offers the poten- tions demanding quasi-areal and near real-time displacement in- tial for determining sub-mm- to mm-level displacements by formation under a broad range of meteorological conditions. remote measurements under various weather conditions. To avoid Actually, TRI is now widely applied for deformation monitoring, damage from smaller rocks and debris, critical surfaces are often in particular for monitoring landslides (Antonello et al. 2003; protected by rockfall catch fences. We present an experimental Mazzanti et al. 2014), open pit mine fields (Severin et al. 2011), investigation proving that the radar measurements are indeed snow covered slopes and glaciers (Luzi et al. 2009;Buttetal. significantly affected by a catch fence made of steel even if its 2016a), volcanoes (Intrieri et al. 2013), and rockfalls (Rabatel mesh size is larger compared to that of the wavelength of the radar. et al. 2008;Milleretal.2013). One of the key challenges is a A stable rock wall in a quarry was monitored by means of a successful mitigation of atmospheric effects, which may complete- ground-based synthetic aperture radar for 2 days. Different fences ly mask the actual displacement (Luzi et al. 2004; Butt et al. 2016b). varying in shape, size, and density of mesh and in various geo- Additionally, TRI data interpretation can be difficult because of metrical configurations were erected at different locations for the geometric distortions involved in mapping 3D space onto the short periods of time during the experiment. We show that for 2D azimuth-range space (Rödelsperger 2011; Monserrat et al. 2014). surfaces observed through the fence, the reflected power can be Due to the LOS nature of TRI sensitivity, prior knowledge of the reduced by 20 dB and thus the signal-to-noise ratio is significantly expected deformation is needed for proper selection of the instru- deteriorated. We also observed spurious interferometric phase ment location. Low coherence (e.g., due to vegetation) and ambig- shifts. Even parts of the rock wall not covered by the fences are uous interferometric phase (e.g., due to fast large displacements) affected. Side lobes and mixed pixels result, e.g., in severe loss of are further limiting factors. coherence and thus potentially mask actual displacements. If a hazard zone reaches an infrastructure or habitat area, special protective structures (embankments, ditches, sheds, galler- Keywords GB-SAR . Terrestrial radar ies, or fences) may be installed independently from a potential interferometry . Rockfall . Protection fence . Natural hazards monitoring system (Volkwein et al. 2011). Steel fences (e.g., Coates et al. 2006) are often found in real hazard zones because of their Introduction relatively low-cost, quick-installation and low-impact characteris- A crucial part of each early-warning system is reliable and accurate tics on the landscape (transparency). While they can prevent a displacement and deformation monitoring. This can be achieved, damage caused by certain actual events, they may disturb or e.g., by using data from sensors like fiber Bragg grating (Huang invalidate TRI monitoring. Firstly, the solid parts of the fences et al. 2012), inclinometers and extensometers (Wyllie and Mah and their support are obstacles in the LOS, non-transparent for 2004), geodetic monitoring by means of robotic total stations microwaves. They cause shading of parts of the surface to be (Loew et al. 2012; Frukacz et al. 2016), global positioning systems monitored, thus, potentially masking changes of these areas (Crosta and Agliardi 2003) or remote sensing methods like digital (Fig. 1). Typically, the mesh size of the fence is much bigger than photogrammetry (Di Crescenzo and Santo 2007), terrestrial laser the wavelength of the radar and the physically shaded area is less scanning (Rabatel et al. 2008; Gigli et al. 2014), and terrestrial radar or much less than 25% of each affected azimuth-range bin. Sec- interferometry (TRI). The latter shows a great potential to provide ondly, steel has much higher reflectivity for microwaves (about highly accurate data and thus high sensitivity with respect to 99%) than natural surfaces (e.g., 30% for sedimentary rock; see deformation of observed natural objects (Mazzanti 2011, Ulaby et al. 1990; Gupta and Wong 2007, chapter 4). It is known Monserrat et al. 2014). that the presence of highly reflective targets in the observed scene A radar sensor emits electromagnetic waves and receives sig- may produce side lobes which can interfere with the signal of other nals reflected from the surfaces generating a 2D complex image less reflective objects (Rödelsperger 2011, p.13). Thus, the steel with phase and amplitude information for every radar pixel. Range fence can additionally mask deformation signals even in areas resolution is obtained by the frequency modulation of the emitted not shaded by the fence. It can also be expected that a fence signals, and azimuth resolution is generated by moving the anten- located in the same azimuth-range bin as an observed natural nas along a rail (synthetic aperture) or rotating real aperture surface may become a dominant scatterer, therefore, again antennas. All targets located in the same azimuth-range bin con- masking actual deformation of the other surfaces. tribute to the amplitude and phase value of the same pixel. As the reflected power of a radar wave is characterized by the Forming an interferogram of two radar images of the same area radar cross section (RCS), which is a function of angular orienta- and collected at different times, the interferometric phase as a tion, shape, and electromagnetic properties (electric permittivity measure of displacement along the respective line-of-sight (LOS) and magnetic permeability) of the scattering body, as well as can be obtained (Rödelsperger 2011, p18). The TRI sensor can be frequency and polarization of the emitted wave (Skolnik 1990, Landslides Original Paper Fig. 1 Monitoring by means of terrestrial radar interferometry with an obstacle between the radar and the surface to be monitored Fig. 2 Experimental setup in scenario 4: two posts located close to the rock wall, supported by stones and wires, with attached ROCCO fence plus secondary mesh chapter 11; Knott et al. 2004, chapter 3), analytical modeling of such an impact is hardly possible and practically useful numerical a horizontal beam width of 29° and a vertical one of 25°, was simulations are very difficult to realize (Franceschetti et al. 1992). chosen as a tradeoff between the illuminated area and power of For this reason, the investigation was carried out experimentally. the reflected signal. The system and its properties for Herein, we present an analysis indicating qualitatively and quan- geomonitoring are discussed comprehensively in (Farina et al. titatively the potentially detrimental impacts of rockfall catch 2011; Rödelsperger 2011). fences on TRI with synthetic aperture. We focus on amplitude, Radar data were initially collected without any artificial objects coherence, and phase of radar interferometry and analyze the between the instrument and the rock wall for reference. This was most critical parameters of the rock-fence-sensor geometry. repeated at the very end of the experiment. In between, various combinations of posts, primary, and secondary net were set up in Methods and experimental setup different positions. Each of these configurations represents a dis- Measurements were collected during 2 days in a quarry, with the tinct scenario as reported in Table 1, and for each of them, a series instrument set up at a distance of about 90 m from a rock wall. of data acquisitions has been carried out starting one immediately The instrument was not moved during this period, and the rock after the previous one that had been completed. This resulted in wall was supposed to be stable. So, all apparent displacements of the availability of typically five, sometimes more or less, SLCs the rock wall later obtained from the measurement data were about 5 min apart per scenario. interpreted as deviations. For each scenario, the entire setup comprising radar instru- Two types of fences were erected temporarily between the instru- ment, fences, posts, and rock wall was scanned using a terrestrial ment and the rock wall: (i) a ring net1 consisting of circular rings with laser scanner. The surface model obtained from one such scan was a diameter of 350 mm each, made from seven windings of steel wires later used to display the radar results by projecting from azimuth- (3-mm diameter per wire, 9-mm diameter of bundle), and (ii) a range bins onto a 3D surface model. Furthermore, using these data secondary steel mesh with square meshes of about 25 × 25 mm2 made allowed determining exactly the location of the fences and posts from steel wires with a 2-mm diameter. These fences were set up within the radar image and thus better analyzing their impact both approximately vertically at an azimuth corresponding to the strike on areas of the rock wall monitored through the fence and on direction of the rock wall. They were supported by posts2,2mhigh areas far away from the fence. and 10 m apart, that were in turn stabilized by steel wires and by For each scenario, the impact of the fences on the monitoring of stones around their bottom ends, see Fig.