Ship Detection by Tiangong-2 Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter

Ship surveillance is of great significance for military reconnaissance and maritime transportation management. It has been well done by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), as SAR can operate day and night under almost all weather conditions, nevertheless, only the amplitude SAR image is explored. Tiangong-2 interferometric imaging radar altimeter (TG2-InIRA), launched in 2016, mainly aims to measure the sea surface height (SSH), as well as inland water. TG2-InIRA is a Ku-Band two-channel interferometric radar with a short baseline of 2.3 m, so that it can well acquire the interferometric phase reflecting the height of ship target. In this paper, we present our ship detection results based on the interferometric phase. The detection result using TG2-InIRA data is validated by that from Sentinel-1 SAR image acquired nearly at the same time, so the feasibility of ocean target detection via using high precision interferometric phase measurements from space is demonstrated.