Analysis of the Earth’s Surface Type in Remote

Sensing Using Fractal Dimension

1st Ruslan Pashchenko 2nd Olga Butenko 3rd Maksim Mariushko

Department of Remote Sensing
of the Earth
O. Ya. Usikov Institute for
Radiophysics and Electronics
Kharkiv, Ukraine
r.paschenko@i.ua
Department of Geoinformation
Technologies and Earth Space
Monitoring
National Aerospace University named
after Zhukovskiy «KhAI»
Kharkiv, Ukraine
os-b@ukr.net
Department of Geoinformation
Technologies and Earth Space
Monitoring
National Aerospace University named
after Zhukovskiy «KhAI»
Kharkiv, Ukraine
max.maryushko@gmail.com

4th Anna Topchiy

Department of Geoinformation
Technologies and Earth Space
Monitoring
National Aerospace University named
after Zhukovskiy «KhAI»
Kharkiv, Ukraine
annatop4y@gmail.com

Abstract—The possibility of applying the fractal theory to
the analysis of the surface type in the Earth’s remote sensing is
considered in the article. The method of conducting
experimental studies of remote sensing of various types of
earth surfaces is given. The analysis of radar signals reflected
from the earth’s surface using fractal dimensions is carried
out. Based on the conducted research, an approach to the
analysis of the underlying surface type using fractal dimension
is proposed.
Keywords— radar signal; Earth’s remote sensing; type of
underlying surface; fractal dimension
I. INTRODUCTION
Currently, a large number of different problems of
analyzing the Earth’s surface are solved by remote sensing
methods (ERS methods). One of these of practical interest is
the problem of determining the type of underlying surface
and evaluating the structure of the surface that is the
transition of one of its states to another [1]. For this purpose,
various technical means are used, including radar aids. A
large number of theoretical and experimental works are
devoted to the analysis of signals scattered (reflected) by the
Earth’s surface [2-4]. In particular, a lot of attention is paid
to models of scattered signals, the type of which, in general,
is determined by a large number of factors, such as the nature
of the sensing object, meteorological conditions, season,
characteristics of location devices, and others [2].
The main purpose of recognizing underlying surfaces is
to determine what type it belongs to [5]. In this case, each
type of surface is characterized by a certain set of features
that are obtained using technical means, in particular Radars.
When selecting features for recognizing the type of earth’s
surface, they seek to determine such features that would be
sensitive to changes in the surface structure and would be
invariant to a number of disturbing factors, such as radio
wave propagation conditions.
The conducted research on the analysis of types of
underlying surfaces has shown that real natural formations
have a fractal structure [6, 7]. At the same time, the radar
signal reflected from the Earth’s surface has fractal
properties. This signal is called diffractal [8]. Fractal non-
differentiable functions are increasingly used to model
various types of the earth’s surface [9]. The degree of the
reflected signal indentation, due to the structure of the
underlying surface, can be studied by taking into
consideration the characterization factor that is fractal
dimension.
Therefore, it is of practical interest to consider the
possibility of applying the fractal theory to solve the problem
of analyzing the type of earth’s surface.
The objective of the work is to consider the possibility of
using fractal dimension for analyzing radar signals reflected
from different types of earth’s surface in the process of
remote sensing.
II. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF SIGNALS REFLECTED
FROM THE EARTH’S SURFACE
The task of obtaining signals when probing various types
of the Earth’s surface was solved by hardware and software
and included the registration of signals in digital form and
their preparation for processing. The main elements of the
experimental setup were ‘Credo’, a centimeter-wave
coherent pulse radar (a simple sinusoidal signal, wavelength
λ = 1.8 cm, signal duration τi = 0.4 microseconds) [10], a
digital oscilloscope (analog-to-digital converter—ADC) and
a personal computer Notebook Samsung P29. The block
diagram of the experiment (experimental setup and types of
probed surfaces) is shown in Fig. 1.

XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE

 Surface types
Winter crops Stubble Arable land
Stubble + Arable land + Sunflower
arable land grass stubble
100 m
Experimental setup
‘Credo’ radar Digital
oscilloscope
Fig. 1. Scheme of conducting the experiment
The method of conducting experimental studies was as
follows. During the experiments, the antenna unit of the
‘Credo’ radar was located at a height of 6 m at a distance of
100 m from the radar to the Earth’s surface. The position of
the radiation pattern of the antenna in azimuth and elevation
planes was recorded. Thus, for all types of surfaces, the
sensing angles were the same. Research was conducted in the
autumn, after the end of the harvest. The following types of
land surfaces were used as objects of research: arable land
(plowed field up to 20 cm deep), wheat stubble (not plowed
field with remnants of wheat stalks), sunflower stubble (not
plowed field with remnants of sunflower stalks), stubble
together with arable land (border of plowed field up to 20 cm
deep and not plowed field with remnants of wheat stalks),
grass together with arable land (border of plowed field up to
20 cm deep and not plowed field with grass up to 20 cm high
10 cm), winter (wheat seedlings up to 10 cm high). Thus,
four types of surfaces were studied: without vegetation
(arable land), with vegetation remnants (stubble), with
vegetation (winter crops), and combined (with and without
vegetation). Each type of surface was probed 10 times.
The signals reflected from the earth’s surface from the
output of the intermediate frequency amplifier (IFA) of the
radar (30 MHz) were converted to a frequency of 5 MHz,
and then using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the
oscilloscope (ADC sampling rate fD = 100 MHz, 1024 bits
of disk (10 binary bits)) were recorded in the Notebook
memory for further analysis. The resulting digital signal is a
signals from the UPC output are of a sinusoidal shape that
changes in some way depending on the nature of the
underlying surface. So the signal reflected from the arable
land (Fig. 2, a) has the smallest amplitude of all signals,
which gradually decreases over time. Signals reflected from
wheat and sunflower stubble (Fig. 2, b, and c), also have a
number of amplitude variation features. Within the time
series, the amplitude does not change monotonously, but
there are sections with smaller and larger amplitudes. In
addition, when probing sunflower stubble, there is a longer
period of minimum amplitude values (15 points) compared
to the signal reflected from wheat stubble (10 points). When
probing combined surfaces (Fig. 2, d, and e) there comes one
change in periodicity within the signal, which is most likely
caused by the presence of a transition boundary from one
type of surface to another. At the same time, the nature of the
amplitude change is similar to the changes during stubble
probing. It should also be noted that when probing arable
land with grass, the signal has a smoother shape. The signal
amplitude during probing of winter (Fig. 2, h), as well as
when probing the arable land, decreases in time, but with a
smaller damping factor. The shape of the signal is smooth
just the way it is while sensing the grass. However, the
conducted visual analysis of the time realizations of the
reflected signals shows that it is almost impossible to
recognize the surface type using the features of these signals.
Thus, the analysis of time realizations of reflected signals
shows that the structure (shape) of the signals does not
significantly depend on the type of earth’s surface.
Differences in signal shape cannot be used to analyze the
type of underlying surface. For the analysis of such signals it
is necessary to search for new recognition signs.
0.05
Y 0
0.05
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
I
a
0

long time series (a set of amplitude values) recorded as a text Y

file available for various computer math packages. 0.2

Subsequently, a long time series was pre-processed. At 0.4

the same time, ‘window’ processing of the original signal 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
I
was performed, from which samples of 80 points were cut
out, which corresponded to the size of the probed section of b
the underlying surface.
0.2
Fig. 2 shows a-h, ‘cut’ from a long time series, signals
from the output of the IFA received as a result of the
experiment while probing: stubble (a), arable land (b), Y 0

stubble with arable land (c), arable land with grass (d),
stubble of sunflowers (e), winter crops (h). The x-axis (I)
0.2
represents the number of points of the recorded signal, and 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
the ordinate (Y) represents the signal level. I

As seen in Fig. 2, pre-processing of long signals allows to c

analyze the shape of the reflected signals in the time domain.
Visual analysis of the initial time series shows that the
 (different) values of ε (for example, values of ε2 = ε1/2,
ε3 = ε1/4, and ε4 = ε1/8). The result is four values N(ε1),
0 N(ε2), N(ε3), N(ε4). As follows from the definition of fractal
Y dimension [6], for small ε, the value N(ε) should behave as
0.2 ~ exp(-D), and in this case log N(ε) = – D * log ε. After that,
according to this expression, the graph of the logarithmic
0.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
dependence of log N(ε) on log ε is plotted. For the
I
considered values of ε1, ε2, ε3, and ε4, we obtain a curve
consisting of four points. The number of values (points) of
d the curve depends on the source data. Based on the obtained
0.2
data, a linear approximation of the obtained log n(ε)
dependence on log ε of the form is constructed

Y 0  log N(ε) = – b∙log ε + С 

The least squares method (LS method) is most often used

0.2 for approximation. To estimate the fractal dimension D, the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
I tangent of the slope angle of the approximated line is
calculated. However, the least-squares approximation of a
e
large number of points when constructing the dependence of
log N(ε) on log ε may lead to an inaccurate description of the
distribution of such points. For a more precise definition of
0 the fractal dimension, it is recommended [6] to choose the
Y most linear section of the distribution of source points. Fig. 3
0.2 shows the dependence of log N(ε) on log ε when calculating
the fractal dimension of the signal reflected from the arable
0.4 land using the coverage method.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
I

h
Fig. 2. Sensing signals: arable land (a), wheat stubble (b), sunflowers
stubble (c), stubble and arable land (d), grass and arable land (е),
winter crops (h)

III. ANALYSIS OF ERS SIGNALS USING

FRACTAL DIMENSIONS
To quantify the degree of indentation (complexity of
shape) of the reflected signal due to the structure of the
underlying surface, one can use fractal dimension as a
characterization factor.
The fractal dimension is usually a non-negative non-
integer that reflects, in some way, the shape of the received
signal. In a two-dimensional representation of the received
signal, the value of the fractal dimension is a fractional value
and lies within. A larger value of the fractal dimension
corresponds to a large degree of signal indentation (a large
degree of plane filling). Various methods of determination
the fractal dimension are used to calculate it [6, 7]. In
practice, the most commonly used methods for processing
time series are coverage and line length determination. Let’s
briefly consider the procedure for calculating the fractal
dimension using these methods.
When using these methods, some value of ε1 is set first.
In the coverage method, ε1 is the length of the side of the
original square that will cover the signal, and in the line
length method, ε1 is the length of the initial segment that will
measure the signal. Then, in the coverage method, the time
domain of the signal’s existence is divided into squares with
the side ε1 and it is calculated how many squares cover all
known points. The line length method calculates the number
of segments of length ε1 that contain the signal. As a result
of these calculations, the first (one) value of N(ε1) is
determined. Later, n(ε) calculations are performed for several
Fig. 3. Determining the fractal dimension
In Fig. 3 it is clear that the LS method line passes only
through two points of dependence and does not describe the
true nature of their distribution. The fractal dimension
obtained from the direct LS is equal to DLS = 1.442. A line
drawn on a linear plot approximates a larger number of
points and describes the nature of their distribution better.
The fractal dimension obtained in a linear section is equal to
DLS = 1.848. Comparison of the values of fractal
dimensions shows that its determination by the LS line leads
to large errors. In addition, when analyzing signals that are
almost identical in shape (Fig. 2), in all log n(ε) on log ε
dependences, differences are observed only in the first five
points, so the fractal dimensions calculated from the LS line
do not differ that much. For surface type analysis, fractal
dimensions were calculated using the coverage method in the
linear section.
Let us analyze the fractal dimensions of signals reflected
from different types of surfaces. The calculation of fractal
dimensions was performed using two methods that were
mentioned above. The table shows the numerical values of
the fractal dimensions of the time realizations of signals
corresponding to the underlying surfaces considered above
(Fig. 2). The table also shows the values of fractal dimension for the analysis of the surface type were shown by the line
averaged over ten tests. length determination method. When using this method, the
values of fractal dimensions differ for different types of
TABLE I. FRACTAL DIMENSIONS OF SIGNALS REFLECTED FROM surface, which means this method is more sensitive to
VARIOUS EARTH SURFACES changes in the surface structure.
Fractal dimension
IV. CONCLUSION
Surface type Coverage method Line length method
To determine the type of surface using radar means of
Fig. 2 Averages Fig. 2 Averages Earth’s remote sensing, it is proposed to use the analysis of
the structure of reflected signals with the help of fractal
Arable land 1.848 1.836 1.369 1.362
dimensions. At the first stage, the initial signals are received
Stubble 1.881 1.887 1.431 1.434 digitally and pre-processed for further analysis. At the
second stage, the method of calculating the fractal dimension
Sunflowers
1.893 1.889 1.430 1.429 that is most sensitive to changes in the shape (fluctuation) of
stubble
the signal is selected. At the third stage, the fractal
Stubble and dimensions of all source signals are calculated. At the final
1.887 1.882 1.399 1.393
arable land stage of the analysis, depending on the value of the fractal
Grass and dimension, the surfaces are determined as a certain type.
1.897 1.896 1.403 1.400 Using fractal dimension allows you to take into account
arable land
patterns of signal forms that are not available for visual
Winter crops 1.899 1.898 1.403 1.402 analysis. When conducting further research, it is advisable to
consider the possibility of analyzing other types of
agricultural surfaces in other seasons.
Analysis of the table data shows that the value of the
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