Near Real Time Ship Detection Experiments

Abstract

A new Near Real Time (NRT) ship detection processor SAINT (SAR AIS Integrated Toolbox) was developed in the framework of the ESA project MARISS. Data are received at DLRs ground segment DLR-BN (Neustrelitz, Germany). Results of the ship detection are available on ftp server within 30 min after the acquisition started.
\nThe detectability of ships on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ERS-2, ENVISAT ASAR and TerraSAR-X (TS-X) images is validated by coastal (live) AIS and space AIS. The monitoring areas chosen for surveillance are the North-, Baltic Sea, and Cape Town. The detectability in respect to environmental parameters like wind field, sea state, currents and changing coastlines due to tidal effects is investigated. 
\nIn the South Atlantic a tracking experiment of the German research vessel Polarstern has been performed.
\nIssues of piracy in particular in respect to ships hijacked at the Somali coast are discussed. Some examples using high resolution images from TerraSAR-X are given.
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