(Caltools) Add Measured RCS, Predicted RCS, and LOS azimuth and elevation angles

[nemo794]

Request

Please add this metadata to the abscal section in the QA_STATS file:

• Measured RCS
• Predicted RCS
• LOS azimuth and elevation angles (in the CR coordinate frame)

History

Edited email thread between B Chapman and @bhawkins :

2/12/2026: Email from B Chapman:

I think there is some information missing from the h5 file that should be added to fully understand the result.

For example –the angle off of the CR boresite in elevation and heading directions would be cumbersome to calculate, but is known while you are analyzing the CRs. if we want to track CR performance, we need to know these off-boresite angles. This is especially important, since many of the reflectors are intentionally misaligned with the NISAR heading.

2/13/2026: Email response from @bhawkins :

The QA_STATS.h5 files contain the absoluteCalibrationFactor, which is the ratio between the measured and predicted RCS. But it sounds like you’re concerned both would be low due to the viewing geometry, which you can’t tell just from the ratio.

The QA_STATS.h5 files include the CR locations, CR IDs, and the observation times (to ns precision), so one would just need the orbit file to calculate the line-of-sight vector. And one would also need the CR CSV file to get the CR orientation and then the off-boresight angles. So it is doable with a couple of extra files and a few lines of code.

I agree it’d be simpler if the abscal section in the QA_STATS file contained the following additional information:
Measured RCS
Predicted RCS
LOS azimuth and elevation angles (in the CR coordinate frame)

Notes

Notes from @nemo794 :

• Please see (Caltools) Report Corner Reflector Incidence Angle in Point Target Analysis #158 (comment) for comment re: adding the DEM as a dependency
• Please see (Caltools) Report Corner Reflector Incidence Angle in Point Target Analysis #158 (comment) for commit re: interpolating metadata cubes