Ship detection using polarimetric Radarsat-2

The scattered wave polarization anisotropy was shown to be very promising for ship detection using polarimetric C-band Convair 580 SAR [1]. The results obtained with Radarsat-2 (RS2) wide fine quad-pol mode (FQWS) are in agreement with the ones previously obtained with the Convair-580 SAR. The use of fully polarimetric RS2 information permits a significant improvement of the shipsea contrast in comparison with conventional (i.e., scalar) single channel polarizations (i.e., HH, VV, or HV). Shore-based radar tracks of ship traffic obtained from the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) are used as a source of ground truth for the ships imaged with RS2 in the Strait of Georgia, near Vancouver. This data set, which includes small and large ships viewed at various orientations and incidence angles, permit an excellent demonstration of the superior RS2 polarimetric capabilities for ship detection in comparison with single and dual-polarization modes.