The InflateSAR Campaign: Testing SAR Vessel Detection Systems for Refugee Rubber Inflatables

Countless numbers of people lost their lives at Europe’s southern borders in recent years in the attempt to cross to Europe in small rubber inflatables. This work examines satellite-based approaches to build up future systems that can automatically detect those boats. We compare the performance of several automatic vessel detectors using real synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from X-band and C-band sensors on TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1. The data was collected in an experimental campaign where an empty boat lies on a lake’s surface to analyse the influence of main sensor parameters (incidence angle, polarization mode, spatial resolution) on the detectability of our inflatable. All detectors are implemented with a moving window and use local clutter statistics from the adjacent water surface. Among tested detectors are well-known intensity-based (CA-CFAR), sublook-based (sublook correlation) and polarimetric-based (PWF, PMF, PNF, entropy, symmetry and iDPolRAD) approaches. Additionally, we introduced a new version of the volume detecting iDPolRAD aimed at detecting surface anomalies and compare two approaches to combine the volume and the surface in one algorithm, producing two new highly performing detectors. The results are compared with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, enabling us to compare detectors independently of threshold selection.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Remote Sensing

• Publication date

  2021-04-13

• Fields of study

  Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3390/RS13081487
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• A Method for Active Marine Target Detection Based on Complex Interferometric Dissimilarity in Dual-Channel ATI-SAR Systems

  2020cited by this paper
• The InflateSAR Campaign: Evaluating SAR Identification Capabilities of Distressed Refugee Boats

  2020influential reference
• Detection Of Ship Wakes In Sar Imagery Using Cauchy Regularisation

  2020cited by this paper
• Ship Detection Based on Oceanic Displaced Phase Center Antenna Technique in Along-Track Interferometric SAR

  2019cited by this paper
• A Small Ship Target Detection Method Based on Polarimetric SAR

  2019cited by this paper
• SAR Ship Detection for Rough Sea Conditions

  2019cited by this paper
• Object-based image analysis approach for vessel detection on optical and radar images

  2019cited by this paper
• Ship Detection in Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery Based on Discriminative Dictionary Learning

  2019cited by this paper
• Ship Detection Based on YOLOv2 for SAR Imagery

  2019cited by this paper
• Ship Wake Detection in SAR Images via Sparse Regularization

  2019cited by this paper
• Extension of Ship Wake Detectability Model for Non-Linear Influences of Parameters Using Satellite Based X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar

  2019cited by this paper
• Ship Classification in SAR Images Using a New Hybrid CNN–MLP Classifier

  2018cited by this paper
• A coupled convolutional neural network for small and densely clustered ship detection in SAR images

  2018cited by this paper
• A Compound-Plus-Noise Model for Improved Vessel Detection in Non-Gaussian SAR Imagery

  2018cited by this paper
• Ship Detection in Dual-Channel ATI-SAR Based on the Notch Filter

  2017cited by this paper
• Compact Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar for Marine Oil Platform and Slick Detection

  2017cited by this paper
• The SUMO Ship Detector Algorithm for Satellite Radar Images

  2017cited by this paper
• Contextual Region-Based Convolutional Neural Network with Multilayer Fusion for SAR Ship Detection

  2017cited by this paper
• Ship detection in SAR images based on an improved faster R-CNN

  2017cited by this paper
• A Depolarization Ratio Anomaly Detector to Identify Icebergs in Sea Ice Using Dual-Polarization SAR Images

  2016cited by this paper
• Ship Detection in SAR Imagery via Variational Bayesian Inference

  2016cited by this paper
• Wake Component Detection in X-Band SAR Images for Ship Heading and Velocity Estimation

  2016cited by this paper
• A novel ship-detection technique for Sentinel-1 SAR data

  2015cited by this paper
• Statistical Tests for a Ship Detector Based on the Polarimetric Notch Filter

  2015cited by this paper
• Application of RADAR Corner Reflectors for the Detection of Small Vessels in Synthetic Aperture Radar

  2015cited by this paper
• Faster R-CNN: Towards Real-Time Object Detection with Region Proposal Networks

  2015cited by this paper
• A New Detection Algorithm for Coherent Scatterers in SAR Data

  2015cited by this paper
• Ship Detection with Spectral Analysis of Synthetic Aperture Radar: A Comparison of New and Well-Known Algorithms

  2015cited by this paper
• Multichannel SAR-GMTI in Maritime Scenarios With F-SAR and TerraSAR-X Sensors

  2015cited by this paper
• You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection

  2015cited by this paper
• Fast R-CNN

  2015cited by this paper
• Validating a Notch Filter for Detection of Targets at Sea With ALOS-PALSAR Data: Tokyo Bay

  2014cited by this paper
• SAR Azimuth ambiguities removal for ship detection using time-frequency techniques

  2014cited by this paper
• Azimuth Ambiguities Removal for Ship Detection Using Full Polarimetric X-Band SAR Data

  2014cited by this paper
• A method for the reduction of ship-detection false alarms due to SAR azimuth ambiguity

  2014cited by this paper
• Detection of coherent scatterers in SAR data: algorithms and applications

  2013cited by this paper
• PolSAR-Ap: Exploitation of fully polarimetric SAR data for application demonstration

  2013cited by this paper
• Subband Extraction Strategies in Ship Detection With the Subaperture Cross-Correlation Magnitude

  2013cited by this paper
• Combining Polarimetric Channels for Better Ship Detection Results

  2013cited by this paper
• Ship Discrimination Using Polarimetric SAR Data and Coherent Time-Frequency Analysis

  2013cited by this paper
• Rich Feature Hierarchies for Accurate Object Detection and Semantic Segmentation

  2013cited by this paper
• Detection of coherent scatterers in SAR data: algorithms and applications

  2013cited by this paper
• Statistical models for constant false alarm rate ship detection with the sublook correlation magnitude

  2012cited by this paper
• Reflection Symmetry for Polarimetric Observation of Man-Made Metallic Targets at Sea

  2012cited by this paper
• Ship Surveillance With TerraSAR-X

  2011cited by this paper
• Dual-polarized COSMO SkyMed SAR data to observe metallic targets at sea

  2011cited by this paper
• Ship Detection in Variable Sea States and Depolarised Sea Clutter: A Polarimetric Notch Filter

  2011cited by this paper
• Polarisation: Applications in Remote Sensing

  2010cited by this paper
• Optimum GMTI Processing for Space-based SAR/GMTI Systems - Theoretical Derivation

  2010cited by this paper
• A PHYSICALLY-BASED APPROACH TO OBSERVE SHIPS IN DUAL-POLARIZED SAR DATA

  2010cited by this paper
• Ship Detection Using SAR Polarimetry. The Development Of A New Algorithm Designed To Exploit New Satellite SAR Capabilities For Maritime Surveillance

  2010cited by this paper
• A novel method for ship detection in polarimetric SAR images using gopce

  2009cited by this paper
• Swell influence on ocean surface roughness and radar scattering from the ocean surface

  2009cited by this paper
• Polarimetric Radar Imaging: From Basics to Applications

  2009cited by this paper
• Improved Space-Based Moving Target Indication via Alternate Transmission and Receiver Switching

  2008cited by this paper
• The Dual Polarization Entropy/Alpha Decomposition: A PALSAR Case Study

  2007cited by this paper
• Single-Pass Polarimetric SAR Interferometry for Vessel Classification

  2007cited by this paper
• Polarimetric and interferometric characterization of coherent scatterers in urban areas

  2006cited by this paper
• A comparison of displaced phase centre antenna and along-track interferometry techniques for RADARSAT-2 ground moving target indication

  2005cited by this paper
• A novel algorithm for ship detection in SAR imagery based on the wavelet transform

  2005cited by this paper
• The State-of-the-Art in Ship Detection in Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery

  2004cited by this paper
• Improved ship detection using polarimetric SAR data

  2004cited by this paper
• Modeling and simulation of radar sea clutter using K-distribution

  2004cited by this paper
• Ship detection based on coherence images derived from cross correlation of multilook SAR images

  2004cited by this paper
• On the use of complex SAR image spectral analysis for target detection: assessment of polarimetry

  2003cited by this paper
• Ocean Surveillance with Polarimetric SAR

  2001cited by this paper
• Ship-sea contrast optimization when using polarimetric SARs

  2001cited by this paper
• Space-time processing for multichannel synthetic aperture radar

  1999cited by this paper
• Ship detection by SAR interferometry

  1999cited by this paper
• On the radar imaging mechanism of Kelvin arms of ship wakes

  1998cited by this paper
• A review of target decomposition theorems in radar polarimetry

  1996cited by this paper
• An automatic ship and ship wake detection system for spaceborne SAR images in coastal regions

  1996cited by this paper
• A practical approach to the prediction and assessment of radar performance in sea clutter

  1995cited by this paper
• Maritime surveillance radar Part 1 : Radar scattering from the ocean surface

  1990cited by this paper
• Algorithms for Optimal Processing of Polarimetric Radar Data

  1989cited by this paper
• Synthetic Aperture Imaging Radar and Moving Targets

  1971cited by this paper

• SAR Small Ship Detection Based on Enhanced YOLO Network

  2025cites this paper
• Enhancement of Small Ship Detection Using Polarimetric Combination from Sentinel-1 Imagery

  2024cites this paper
• The InflateSAR Campaign: Developing Refugee Vessel Detection Capabilities with Polarimetric SAR

  2023influential citation
• A New Orbiting Deployable System for Small Satellite Observations for Ecology and Earth Observation

  2022cites this paper
• Argo: Towards Small Vessel Detection for Humanitarian Purposes

  2022cites this paper
• SAR Satellite Imagery Reveals the Impact of the Covid-19 Crisis on Ship Frequentation in the French Mediterranean Waters

  2022cites this paper
• Monitoring visitation at North Carolina artificial reef sites using high spatiotemporal resolution PlanetScope imagery

  2022cites this paper