Port Detection in Polarimetric SAR Images Based on Three-Component Decomposition

It is difficult to detect ports in polarimetric SAR images due to the complex components, the variety of contours and the complicated coastal terrains background. A novel port detection method is proposed by extracting the specific water area in port based on three-component decomposition. Firstly, the double-bounce and volume scattering components of terrains are obtained by a modified three-component decomposition. The scattering components of port water are compared with that of normal water. Then water and land are separated by thresholding the volume scattering power. Port water and normal water regions are separated by thresholding a proposed polarimetric parameter related to the double-bounce scattering power. Finally, ports are detected by placing the boundary and thresholding the average double-bounce power of the land in the detected port water region. Three RADARSAT-2 polarimetric SAR data covering the regions of Dalian, Zhanjiang and Fujian in China respectively are used to test the port detection method. Experimental results show that all ports are correctly and fast detected by the proposed method.