A Bilateral CFAR Algorithm for Ship Detection in SAR Images

• Published in: IEEE geoscience and remote sensing letters Vol. 12; no. 7; pp. 1536 - 1540
• Main Authors: Leng, Xiangguang, Ji, Kefeng, Yang, Kai, Zou, Huanxin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.07.2015; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Bilateral constant false alarm rate (CFAR); Clutter; Distribution functions; Graphical models; Kernel; kernel density estimation; Marine vehicles; ship detection; Spatial distribution; Synthetic aperture radar; synthetic aperture radar (SAR); kernel density estimation; Bilateral constant false alarm rate (CFAR); synthetic aperture radar (SAR); ship detection; spatial distribution
• ISSN: 1545-598X; 1558-0571
• DOI: 10.1109/LGRS.2015.2412174

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.