MEASUREMENTS AND MODELLING OF RADAR CROSS SECTION SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH VESSEL QUEST AS SEEN WITH SPACE-BASED SAR*

摘要

Ship detection with space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is becoming an increasingly important component of maritime surveillance. The total radar cross section (RCS) of ship targets can be determined from radiometrically calibrated SAR imagery and it has been shown that the RCS can be used to estimate the length of ships. In an effort to refine and extend the capability to detect and to estimate ship characteristics, we present a set of RCS measurements of the Canadian Forces Auxiliary Vessel Quest, obtained at various incidence and aspect angles from RADARSAT-1 SAR data and compare them with predictions based on an electromagnetic RCS model. The measured and modelled RCS values are in reasonably good agreement indicating that the model performs well and that the radiometric calibration of the SAR imagery is accurate.