Coastline extraction from SAR COSMO-SkyMed data using a new neural network algorithm

The mapping of the coastline is a well known and tested procedure exploiting the capabilities of optical satellite sensor. Nevertheless, it is affected by several inherent limits like weather condition and revisit time of the areas. The recent availability of very high-resolution X-Band SAR data acquired by a constellation of satellites with frequent revisit capabilities has brought a potential alternative, or support, for this kind of application. To this purpose a new automatic algorithm, based on Pulse Coupled Neural Networks, has been developed to process COSMO-SkyMed products taken with different polarization, geometric configuration and measurements mode. The results have been validated through a GPS survey, also respect to a traditional C-band technique applied on X-band, with the final intent of an assessment of the real impact of the proposed procedure in the coastal mapping application.