Soil moisture retrieval utilizing GNSS interference signal amplitude

A soil moisture retrieval model was developed using GNSS interference signal amplitude, according to the interference phenomenon and GNSS receiver SNR estimation method. Antenna gain, soil permittivity and noise effect was considered in this model. The AMPD algorithm was used to extract the interference peaks and valleys from noisy normalized interference power which were then used to retrieve soil permittivity and moisture, and a simulation was performed to verify its feasibility. Results showed that the soil moisture retrieval performance using interference valleys was better compared to that using peaks, the relatively stable retrieval elevation angle range is 5°~25°, and the retrieved value was more accurate when moisture is larger than 0.06 cm³/cm³, with the standard deviation around 0.01 cm³/cm³.