Investigation of Real-Time Wave Height Measurement Using X-Band Navigation Radar

In order to meet the warship´s needs of real-time wave height measurement, a method using X-band navigation radar to measure wave height is presented. In this paper, the principle of wave height measurement based on X-band navigation radar is also introduced, the mathematical model of wave height measurement using X-band navigation radar is given. According to the X-band radar-image sequences collected from East Sea in China, the wave heights are retrieved based on mathematical model. The retrieved wave heights are validated by comparison of the radar-derived significant wave heights with the significant wave heights acquired from in-situ buoy sensors. It is shown that the accuracy of the radar-retrieved significant wave height is consistent with the accuracy of the in-situ buoy sensors. Therefore, to some extent, the reliability of the mathematical model is verified, to measure the wave height using X-band navigation radar is available in warship.