Polarimetric ATI slow target detection in a log likelihood framework

The detection of slow moving targets for maritime surveillance applications can be achieved using target and clutter differences in backscatter magnitude and Along Track Interferometric (ATI) phase. This paper builds upon a previous evaluation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ATI in a log likelihood framework to include polarimetric information. The log likelihood framework enables the assessment of detection performance as a function of scene characteristics for single, dual and fully polarimetric radars. Receiver operator curves are generated for modeled scenarios using measured polarimetric backscatter and estimates of ATI coherency. For the scenarios considered, the application of the log likelihood approach provides a significant reduction in false alarm rate compared to ATI phase detection and performance improves with the inclusion of additional polarimetric channels.