A polarimetric model to observe targets at sea by PingPong mode COSMO-SkyMed SAR data

A polarimetric model is proposed to observe targets at sea by X-band COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, acquired in dual-polarization PingPong mode. The model relates the correlation between the HH and VV channels to the scene coherence time with and without metallic targets. Following this theoretical rationale, a very effective Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) approach is proposed to observe targets at sea in CSK PingPong mode SAR data. Experiments, undertaken on a meaningful data set of CSK SAR data, confirm the soundness of the model and the effectiveness of the operational approach.