Ship detection with Cosmo-SkyMed PINGPONG data using the dual-pol ratio anomaly detector

Extensive work has been carried out on detecting ships using space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems. However, the identification of small vessels is still challenging especially when the sea conditions are rough. In this work, a new detector is proposed based on dual-polarized incoherent SAR images. Small ships have a stronger cross polarization accompanied by a higher cross-over co-polarization ratio compared to sea. This is the rational at the base of the detector. The new detector is tested with dual-polarization HH/HV PINGPONG Cosmo-SkyMed images acquired over the North Sea. The test area is near Rotterdam where a large number of ships are expected.