Wake detection: a multichannel approach [SAR image]

The detection of a wake obtained from satellite images using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques is discussed. After both 2-D and 1-D spectral analysis of both simulated and measured wake images, it is concluded that the wake can be considered narrowband temporally and broadband spatially, implying that a plane-wave decomposition may provide a reliable detection approach. In fact, it is shown that the frequency-wavenumber spectrum can be utilized for detection, since the wake decomposition yields plane wave components in symmetric pairs. Various narrowband processors are implemented along with spatial smoothing to provide a reliable frequency-wavenumber estimator. After estimating all of the symmetric wavenumber pairs, various detection schemes are investigated