SAR-Based Vessel Velocity Estimation From Partially Imaged Kelvin Pattern

Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be considered an operational asset for maritime monitoring applications. Well-assessed approaches exist for ship detection, validated in several maritime surveillance systems. However, measuring vessel velocity from detected single-channel SAR images of ships is in general difficult. This letter contributes to this problem by investigating the possibility of retrieving vessel velocity by wake analysis. An original method for velocity estimation is developed for calm sea (Beaufort scale 1-2) and applied over seven X-band SAR images, gathered by COSMO-SkyMed mission over the Gulf of Naples, Italy. The algorithm exploits the well-known relation between the wavelength of the waves composing the Kelvin pattern and the ship velocity. But the proposed approach extends the applicability of the existing wake-based techniques since it foresees evaluation of the wavelength along a generic direction in the Kelvin angle. Promising results have been achieved, which are in good agreement with those of more assessed techniques for ship velocity estimation in SAR images.