Fast detection of oil spills and ships using SAR images

In this paper, we show the capabilities of a new maritime control system based on the processing of COSMO-SkyMed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. This system aims at fast detection of ships that may be responsible for illegal oil dumping. In particular, a novel detection algorithm based on the joint use of the significance parameter, wavelet correlator and a two-dimensional Constant False Alarm Rate (2D-CFAR) is designed. Results show the effectiveness of such algorithms, which can be used by the maritime authorities to have a faster although still reliable response. The proposed algorithm, together with the short revisit time of the COSMO-SkyMed constellation, can help with tracking the scenario evolution from one acquisition to the next.