Microwave radars can be used to monitor the internal structure of the snowpack, delivering real-time and non-destructive measurements. Recently, the working principle of an innovative radar architecture able to identify some of the most important snowpack parameters, without external aids, has been demonstrated. A key point of this new architecture is the use of two independent receiving antennas, and one transmitting antenna. This paper presents a comparison between two different implementations, either based on one physical antenna miming two receiving antennas, or based directly on two physical receiving antennas. The different advantages and disadvantages of both solutions are discussed, highlighting the superior accuracy achieved by the implementation based on two physical receiving antennas. Then, this paper also presents the field results achieved by this type of radar architecture, on the grounds of a 5-day experimental campaign that took place in winter 2019 in the Italian Alps on dry snow. The comparison between the radar measurements and the ground truth (manual snowpit analysis, in terms of snowpack depth, dielectric constant, bulk density, and snow water equivalent) is provided. Overall, a root mean square error of around 3.5 cm, 0.05, 27 kg/m3, and 2.5 cm is achieved, respectively.

中文翻译：

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用于积雪监测的双接收机雷达架构的实验验证

微波雷达可用于监测积雪的内部结构，提供实时和无损测量。最近，一种创新的雷达架构的工作原理已经得到证实，该架构能够在没有外部辅助的情况下识别一些最重要的积雪参数。这种新架构的一个关键点是使用两个独立的接收天线和一个发射天线。本文介绍了两种不同实现之间的比较，或者基于一个物理天线模拟两个接收天线，或者直接基于两个物理接收天线。讨论了两种解决方案的不同优点和缺点，强调了基于两个物理接收天线的实现所实现的卓越精度。然后，本文还基于 2019 年冬季在意大利阿尔卑斯山的干雪上进行的为期 5 天的实验活动，介绍了这种雷达架构所取得的现场结果。提供了雷达测量值与地面实况（手动雪坑分析，根据积雪深度、介电常数、体积密度和雪水当量）之间的比较。总体而言，均方根误差约为 3.5 cm、0.05、27 kg/m3, 和 2.5 厘米, 分别实现。