Iceberg Detection Using Compact Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar

Denbina, Michael

Iceberg Detection Using Compact Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar

atmire.migration.oldid	2773
dc.contributor.advisor	Collins, Michael
dc.contributor.author	Denbina, Michael
dc.date.accessioned	2014-12-03T20:54:17Z
dc.date.available	2015-02-23T08:00:30Z
dc.date.issued	2014-12-03
dc.date.submitted	2014	en
dc.description.abstract	The management and monitoring of icebergs and sea ice is an important consideration for any maritime operations that take place in the polar and near-polar regions. Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites can provide iceberg detection capabilities over vast areas of ocean with a quick revisit time. Canada's next Radarsat satellite, the Radarsat Constellation, will collect compact polarimetry, a polarimetric SAR configuration that transmits a circular polarization rather than the typical linear horizontal or vertical polarizations. In doing so, it can provide greater polarimetric information than typical linear dual-polarized SAR, without the swath width restrictions of fully polarimetric or quad-polarized SAR. In this thesis, the use of compact polarimetry for iceberg detection is explored. The detection performance of Radarsat Constellation data, simulated using Radarsat-2 data, is assessed using validated iceberg locations collected by a survey vessel. Many new algorithms are tested for use with compact polarimetric SAR data, including detection methods that use pseudo quad-pol reconstruction, wherein quad-pol covariance matrix elements are approximated using the compact polarimetric covariance matrix. Detection using the Stokes parameters is also tested, both through the use of the skew-normal distribution to model the Stokes vector ocean clutter, and also by using the Stokes parameters to calculate the orientation and ellipticity of the polarization ellipse. A method is proposed where the polarization ellipse parameters are then used to vary the detection threshold for each pixel. Discrimination of ships and icebergs after target detection, using a support vector machine classifier, is also demonstrated. Overall, the compact polarimetric data significantly outperformed the linear dual-polarized data, both in iceberg detection and ship/iceberg discrimination. Compact polarimetry shows much promise for maritime surveillance applications.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Denbina, M. (2014). Iceberg Detection Using Compact Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26410	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/26410
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1946
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.publisher.place	Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Remote Sensing
dc.subject	Engineering--Electronics and Electrical
dc.subject	Engineering--Marine and Ocean
dc.subject.classification	icebergs	en_US
dc.subject.classification	iceberg detection	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Synthetic Aperture Radar	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Circular Polarization	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Compact polarimetry	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Arctic	en_US
dc.subject.classification	polarization	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Stokes vector	en_US
dc.title	Iceberg Detection Using Compact Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Geomatics Engineering
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true