Maritime non-cooperative target imaging with COSMO SkyMed data

Advanced satellite SAR systems, such as Cosmo SkyMed, provide high resolution images with reasonably short revisiting time, allowing for a number of applications in areas such as Homeland Security and Maritime Surveillance. Especially in the case of maritime surveillance, non-ccoperative moving targets imaging represent a challenge for SAR systems as the complex target motions produce evident image defocusing. In the present paper, we show evidence of the effectiveness of the applications of ISAR processing to obtain well focused images of such type of targets. It will be also shown that super-resolution techniques are applicable to targets affected by complex motions after ISAR processing is used.

[1]  John C. Curlander,et al.  Synthetic Aperture Radar: Systems and Signal Processing , 1991 .

[2]  Pierfrancesco Lombardo,et al.  Effect of Apodization on SAR Image Understanding , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[3]  Marco Martorella.  A Contrast Maximization Based Technique for 2D ISAR Autofocusing , 2005 .

[4]  M. Martorella,et al.  Novel approach for ISAR image cross-range scaling , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[5]  P. Lombardo,et al.  Segmentation-based technique for ship detection in SAR images , 2001 .

[6]  P. Lombardo,et al.  Detection of ship targets in COSMO-SkyMed SAR images , 2011, 2011 IEEE RadarCon (RADAR).

[7]  Jack Walker,et al.  Range-Doppler Imaging of Rotating Objects , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[8]  James R. Fienup,et al.  Nonlinear apodization for sidelobe control in SAR imagery , 1995 .

[9]  A. Farina,et al.  Two-dimensional super-resolution spectral analysis applied to SAR images , 1998 .

[10]  F. Berizzi,et al.  Time windowing for highly focused ISAR image reconstruction , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[11]  Marco Martorella,et al.  Statistical CLEAN Technique for ISAR Imaging , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[12]  Dale A. Ausherman,et al.  Developments in Radar Imaging , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[13]  M. Martorella,et al.  Refocussing of moving targets in SAR images based on inversion mapping and ISAR processing , 2011, 2011 IEEE RadarCon (RADAR).

[14]  Marco Martorella,et al.  Contrast maximisation based technique for 2-D ISAR autofocusing , 2005 .