Ship detection using X-band dual-pol SAR data

The interest for maritime surveillance and ship detection in particular has been growing during the last years. In this context, spaceborne SAR systems may contribute to the improvement of security and safety at sea. As such, to allow observation of non-cooperative boats, the revisit times of such systems must be compatible with the objectives of reactivity of maritime surveillance. Under CNES (French Space Agency) initiative, an airborne campaign using the ONERA Airborne SAR SETHI took place over the Mediterranean Sea. The main objective of this dedicated campaign of acquisition was to perform very precise measurements of sea clutter and ship Radar Cross Sections (RCS) for various conditions of acquisition (sea state, observation angle, boat type). This paper is focused on X-band dual-polarized SAR data acquired at 50° incidence angle and we show that such polarimetric configuration provides significant gain on ship detection compared to a mono-polarized SAR without degrading the revisit time like that would be the case with quad-pol SAR data.