Sea State Characterization Using Experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar Raw Data in Two-Dimensions and the Modified Fractal Signature Method

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method for the characterization of the sea state using a set of raw experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data in two dimensions, i.e., in the “fast time” and “slow time” directions (as explained in the text) and the so-called “Modified Fractal Signature” (MFS) method. That is, experimental SAR radar signatures in the above two dimensions (i.e., “raw data” in the time domain) were provided to our research group by the Norwegian Institute of Defence (FFI Institute), Norway, which we processed and analyzed using the MFS method in a novel way, as presented in detail in this paper. The numerical results obtained here show an easy categorization of the sea surface as “calm sea” or “turbulent sea”, thus establishing a very promising technique for the characterization of sea state in real time, as described in detail in the text.