Ship Detection in GF-3 NSC Mode SAR Images

Abstract

GF-3, the first C-band full-polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite with a space resolution up to 1 m, has multiple strip and scan imaging modes. In this paper, we propose a maritime ship detection algorithm that detects ship targets via pixel classification in a Bayesian framework and employ effective enhancement methods to improve detection performance based on the data characteristics. We compare and analyze the results of detection experiments using the proposed algorithm with those of several Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) algorithms. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.