Simulation of polarimetric SAR vessel signatures for satellite fisheries monitoring

This paper presents a tool able to realistically simulate the SAR raw data recorded by an orbital sensor while imaging a vessel. The simulator is based on a RCS prediction code developed at the UPC, but modified in order to take into account the characteristics of the chirp radar signal and the orbit of the satellite. The vessel models can be generated with commercial computed-aided-design packages with a high degree of detail and fidelity. The simulator is able to calculate the full-polarimetric raw data and will be used to develop vessel classification algorithms based on polarimetric decompositions. Existing or new sensors can be simulated to study its limitations and suggest new configurations to improve its applicability to the problem.