A statistical approach to point target detection in a clutter background is used to delineate the expected performance of the RADARSAT SAR (C-band HH polarization) for ship detection, and to compare the expected ship detection performance for the various RADARSAT
SAR beam modes. Smaller ships may be detected with decreasing wind speed, increasing incidence angle, and finer resolution. ScanSAR Narrow Far is expected to be a good compromise between spatial coverage and detection probability. We present a quantitative validation of these model predictions based
upon data acquired during a RADARSAT SAR ship detection/validation field program, which was held in March/April 1996 off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The program included buoy measurements of wind and wave conditions and RADARSAT SAR passes with known ships in each scene. We present validation
of some of the model's key assumptions, in particular those concerning our hybrid C-band HH polarization ocean cross-section model, image probability density function, and ship radar signatures.
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