Restoration of Authentic Position of Unidentified Vessels in SAR Imagery: A Deep Learning Based Approach

Enhancement of vessel detection performance in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images generated academic advancements related to amelioration of the algorithmic accuracy and training data procurement. For practical implementation of vessel detection algorithm to maritime surveillance, however, presentation of authentic position of vessels was essential. Accordingly, this article aimed to propose an algorithm, which demonstrated realistic and azimuth shift-corrected position of vessel, especially out of conventional vessel monitoring apparatus: automated identification system (AIS) and vessel-pass (VPASS) information. Two different analyses regarding the vessel detection output utilization were, therefore, presented. Primary analysis demonstrated a vessel identification algorithm, comparing the vessel detection output with elaborately preprocessed AIS and VPASS information, which indicated the discrete position and velocity of vessel. The other presented a position restoration algorithm via i) velocity estimator complementing the conventional fractional Fourier transform velocity estimation analysis, while investigating the effect of range acceleration in deriving the azimuth velocity and ii) measuring the vessel orientation angle from Radon transform. Both algorithms were implemented to the vessel detection output in Cosmo-SkyMed SAR images, depicting an enhanced accuracy compared to the conventional algorithm both in velocity estimation and azimuth shift estimation; velocity offset reduced from 1.64 m/s to 1.29 m/s and average azimuth shift offset reduced from 70.75 m to 62.39 m. The presented algorithms would be decisive in terms of practicality if robustly attached to convolutional neural network-based vessel detection algorithms demonstrating ideal detection performances.

Automated summary

This study proposes two novel algorithms to improve the accuracy of vessel detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The first algorithm compares the vessel detection output with traditional vessel monitoring apparatus information to demonstrate the position and velocity of vessels. The second algorithm restores the position of the vessel by estimating velocity and measuring the orientation angle. These algorithms show more accurate results compared to traditional methods in the experiments.