PROJECT TITLE :

On the Capability of Hybrid-Polarity Features to Observe Metallic Targets at Sea

ABSTRACT:

In this paper, target at ocean detection is addressed using hybrid-polarity (HP) artificial aperture radar (SAR) design. Wave polarimetry ideas are used to define HP features that are used to observe targets at ocean. The sensitivity of HP features to each targets and the encircling environment is analyzed through a unique objective norm, particularly the Relative Sensitivity for Polarimetric Features (RSPolF) index. Detection performance is evaluated by the novel Dependency of Sea state and Target (DoST) surface characteristics metric, and by the well-known Figure of Merit (FoM). Experiments undertaken on HP measurements emulated from Radarsat-2 and ALOS-PALSAR full-polarimetric actual SAR data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed HP approach and the various sensitivity of HP features to targets and background ocean characteristics. Following those results, a ranking of the HP features performance is proposed which mainly highlights that HP options complement every alternative in the detection method. Finally, a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) approach is proposed to exploit 2 HP options for target detection in an unsupervised manner.