Analyzing the Dependence between RADARSAT-1 Vessel Detection and Vessel Heading using a CFAR Algorithm for Use in Fishery Management

• Main Authors: Friedman, Karen S., Wackerman, Christopher, Funk, Fritz, Schwenzfeier, Mary, Pichel, William G., Clemente-Colon, Pablo, Li, Xiaofeng
• Other Authors: NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICE WASHINGTON DC
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Agronomy; Horticulture and Aquiculture; Numerical Mathematics; Unmanned Spacecraft; *ALGORITHMS; *FALSE ALARMS; *RESEARCH SHIPS; *FISHERIES; *SCIENTIFIC SATELLITES; COAST GUARD; SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR; COMMERCIAL FISHING; REAL TIME; DETECTION; SYMPOSIA; POSITION(LOCATION); CFAR(CONSTANT FALSE ALARM RATE); Red king crab; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA498777; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA498777

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provides Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) derived products under a demonstration project named the Alaska SAR Demonstration (AKDEMO) to the US government community. The AKDEMO near real-time data and products include SAR wind images and vectors, hard target locations, and ancillary data. The hard target locations are available for use in fishery management by agencies such as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG). Vessel positions are obtained from hard target signatures through the use of a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) vessel detection algorithm developed by Veridian Systems Division. This algorithm has gone through testing and validation, using fleet information and vessel observer reports, during Red King Crab fisheries in Alaska in 1999 and 2000. The goal was to maximize the number of ships found while minimizing the number or false alarms. Using general fleet location information, it was found that the minimum vessel size detected by the CFAR algorithm was 36 m using RADARSAT-1 ScanSAR Wide mode data with a nominal spatial resolution of 100 m. Still, when comparing the CFAR results with the actual positions reported by the ship observers, vessels over 36 m were not always detected. This led to the hypothesis that the heading and perhaps wind conditions may have affected the ability of SAR to detect the vessels. In 2001, vessel observers again reported their positions during SAR overpasses, this time also reporting heading and wind conditions. Unfortunately, due to high winds and waves, SAR was not able to detect the fishing fleet. See also ADM002146. Presented at the Oceans-2003 MTS/IEEE Conference, held in San Diego, California on September 22-26, 2003. Published in the proceedings of the conference, pP2819-2823, 2003. U.S. Government or Federal Purpose Rights License., The original document contains color images.