A Bilateral CFAR Algorithm for Ship Detection in SAR Images

Author

Xiangguang Leng ; Kefeng Ji ; Kai Yang ; Huanxin Zou

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electron. Sci. & Eng., Nat. Univ. of Defense Technol., Changsha, China

Volume

12

Issue

7

fYear

2015

fDate

Jul-15

Firstpage

1536

Lastpage

1540

Abstract

A bilateral constant false alarm rate (CFAR) algorithm for ship detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is proposed in this letter. Compared to the standard CFAR algorithm, the proposed algorithm can reduce the influence of SAR ambiguities and sea clutter, by means of a combination of the intensity distribution and the spatial distribution of SAR images. The spatial distribution plays an equally important role as the intensity distribution. It is estimated before ship detection by a new kernel density estimation algorithm proposed in this letter. The experimental results of typical SAR images show that the algorithm is effective.

Keywords

marine radar; radar imaging; ships; synthetic aperture radar; SAR images; bilateral CFAR algorithm; bilateral constant false alarm rate algorithm; intensity distribution; kernel density estimation algorithm; sea clutter; ship detection; spatial distribution; synthetic aperture radar images; Clutter; Distribution functions; Graphical models; Kernel; Marine vehicles; Standards; Synthetic aperture radar; Bilateral constant false alarm rate (CFAR); kernel density estimation; ship detection; spatial distribution; synthetic aperture radar (SAR);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1545-598X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LGRS.2015.2412174

Filename

7069218