Abstract
False alarms (FAs) pose a major challenge for operational ship detection
in spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. This paper
presents a novel algorithm for identification and tracking of FAs in
repeat-pass Radar Constellation Mission (RCM) imagery. The algorithm
benefits from that not only ambiguities but also fixed ocean structures
and small islands are recurrently detected at predetermined geographic
locations in the repeat-pass acquisitions. Efficacy of the proposed
algorithm is demonstrated through tracking an azimuth ambiguity, a small
island, and an elevation grating lobe range ambiguity in a stack of
twenty-six Ship Detection RCM images acquired near Galapagos Islands.