Improving Satellite-Retrieved Cloud Base Height with Ground-Based Cloud Radar Measurements

Cloud base height(CBH) is a crucial parameter for cloud radiative effect estimates, climate change simulations, and aviation guidance. However, due to the limited information on cloud vertical structures included in passive satellite radiometer observations, few operational satellite CBH products are currently available. This study presents a new method for retrieving CBH from satellite radiometers. The method first uses the combined measurements of satellite radiometers and ground-based cloud radars to develop a lookup table(LUT) of effective cloud water content(ECWC), representing the vertically varying cloud water content. This LUT allows for the conversion of cloud water path to cloud geometric thickness(CGT), enabling the estimation of CBH as the difference between cloud top height and CGT. Detailed comparative analysis of CBH estimates from the state-of-the-art ECWC LUT are conducted against four ground-based millimeter-wave cloud radar(MMCR) measurements, and results show that the mean bias(correlation coefficient) is0.18±1.79 km(0.73), which is lower(higher) than 0.23±2.11 km(0.67) as derived from the combined measurements of satellite radiometers and satellite radar-lidar(i.e., Cloud Sat and CALIPSO). Furthermore, the percentages of the CBH biases within 250 m increase by 5% to 10%, which varies by location. This indicates that the CBH estimates from our algorithm are more consistent with ground-based MMCR measurements. Therefore, this algorithm shows great potential for further improvement of the CBH retrievals as ground-based MMCR are being increasingly included in global surface meteorological observing networks, and the improved CBH retrievals will contribute to better cloud radiative effect estimates.

Comparison of Satellite Cloud Image and Radar of Precipitation Process on July 31st,2007

Based on the data of satellite cloud image and Doppler radar,the rainstorm process from July 31st,2007 to August 1st,2007 in Liaoning was analyzed.The precipitation in Fushun and Haicheng was more than 100 mm,and 6 h precipitation in Fushun and Dandong was more than 50 mm.Through the analysis of strong precipitation period,the structure of clouds had a little decline from the stage of development to maturity.The gray value and gradient degree around were both larger in the center of heavy precipitation.

Lira-YOLO: a lightweight model for ship detection in radar images

For the detection of marine ship objects in radar images, large-scale networks based on deep learning are difficult to be deployed on existing radar-equipped devices. This paper proposes a lightweight convolutional neural network, LiraNet, which combines the idea of dense connections, residual connections and group convolution, including stem blocks and extractor modules.The designed stem block uses a series of small convolutions to extract the input image features, and the extractor network adopts the designed two-way dense connection module, which further reduces the network operation complexity. Mounting LiraNet on the object detection framework Darknet, this paper proposes Lira-you only look once(Lira-YOLO), a lightweight model for ship detection in radar images, which can easily be deployed on the mobile devices. Lira-YOLO's prediction module uses a two-layer YOLO prediction layer and adds a residual module for better feature delivery. At the same time, in order to fully verify the performance of the model, mini-RD, a lightweight distance Doppler domain radar images dataset, is constructed. Experiments show that the network complexity of Lira-YOLO is low, being only 2.980 Bflops, and the parameter quantity is smaller, which is only 4.3 MB. The mean average precision(mAP) indicators on the mini-RD and SAR ship detection dataset(SSDD) reach 83.21% and 85.46%, respectively,which is comparable to the tiny-YOLOv3. Lira-YOLO has achieved a good detection accuracy with less memory and computational cost.

Three-dimensional positions of scattering centers reconstruction from multiple SAR images based on radargrammetry

A method and procedure is presented to reconstruct three-dimensional(3D) positions of scattering centers from multiple synthetic aperture radar(SAR) images. Firstly, two-dimensional(2D) attribute scattering centers of targets are extracted from 2D SAR images. Secondly, similarity measure is developed based on 2D attributed scatter centers' location, type, and radargrammetry principle between multiple SAR images. By this similarity, we can associate 2D scatter centers and then obtain candidate 3D scattering centers. Thirdly, these candidate scattering centers are clustered in 3D space to reconstruct final 3D positions. Compared with presented methods, the proposed method has a capability of describing distributed scattering center, reduces false and missing 3D scattering centers, and has fewer restrictionson modeling data. Finally, results of experiments have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An approach to wide-field imaging of linear rail ground-based SAR in high squint multi-angle mode

Ground-based synthetic aperture radar(GB-SAR) has been successfully applied to the ground deformation monitoring.However, due to the short length of the GB-SAR platform, the scope of observation is largely limited. The practical applications drive us to make improvements on the conventional linear rail GB-SAR system in order to achieve larger field imaging. First, a turntable is utilized to support the rotational movement of the radar.Next, a series of high-squint scanning is performed with multiple squint angles. Further, the high squint modulation phase of the echo data is eliminated. Then, a new multi-angle imaging method is performed in the wave number domain to expand the field of view. Simulation and real experiments verify the effectiveness of this method.

Super-resolution reconstruction of synthetic-aperture radar image using adaptive-threshold singular value decomposition technique

A super-resolution reconstruction approach of （SVD） technique was presented, and its performance was radar image using an adaptive-threshold singular value decomposition analyzed, compared and assessed detailedly. First, radar imaging model and super-resolution reconstruction mechanism were outlined. Then, the adaptive-threshold SVD super-resolution algorithm, and its two key aspects, namely the determination method of point spread function （PSF） matrix T and the selection scheme of singular value threshold, were presented. Finally, the super-resolution algorithm was demonstrated successfully using the measured synthetic-aperture radar （SAR） images, and a Monte Carlo assessment was carried out to evaluate the performance of the algorithm by using the input/output signal-to-noise ratio （SNR）. Five versions of SVD algorithms, namely 1 ） using all singular values, 2） using the top 80% singular values, 3） using the top 50% singular values, 4） using the top 20% singular values and 5） using singular values s such that S2≥/max（s2）/rinsNR were tested. The experimental results indicate that when the singular value threshold is set as Smax/（rinSNR）1/2, the super-resolution algorithm provides a good compromise between too much noise and too much bias and has good reconstruction results.

Novel method for extraction of ship target with overlaps in SAR image via EM algorithm

The quality of synthetic aperture radar(SAR)image degrades in the case of multiple imaging projection planes(IPPs)and multiple overlapping ship targets,and then the performance of target classification and recognition can be influenced.For addressing this issue,a method for extracting ship targets with overlaps via the expectation maximization(EM)algorithm is pro-posed.First,the scatterers of ship targets are obtained via the target detection technique.Then,the EM algorithm is applied to extract the scatterers of a single ship target with a single IPP.Afterwards,a novel image amplitude estimation approach is pro-posed,with which the radar image of a single target with a sin-gle IPP can be generated.The proposed method can accom-plish IPP selection and targets separation in the image domain,which can improve the image quality and reserve the target information most possibly.Results of simulated and real mea-sured data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Investigation of Simulating Radar Images Concerning the Multipath Scattering Effect

In the composed system of a target and rough surface, the electromagnetic scattering mechanism, especially the multipath scattering, is investigated. Using physical optics double bouncing algorithm, the multipath scattering model of the system has been established. Simulated by a wide-band radar signal and based on fractal rough surface, the artificial echo of the target has been obtained in virtue of the established multipath scattering model. By simulating to image the target in one dimension using the artificial echo, two kinds of range profiles are attained. It is found that one is from the target and the other is from the multipath scattering effect. Key words multipath scattering - radar imaging - rough surface scattering CLC number O 451 Foundation item: Supported by the Key Laboratory Foundation of National Defense Science and Technology (99JS93. 1. 2. JW1204)Biography: Yang Chun-hua(1978-), male, Ph. D candidate, research direction: radio wave propagation and wiresless communication.

Deep convolutional neural network for meteorology target detection in airborne weather radar images

Considering the problem that the scattering echo images of airborne Doppler weather radar are often reduced by ground clutters,the accuracy and confidence of meteorology target detection are reduced.In this paper,a deep convolutional neural network(DCNN)is proposed for meteorology target detection and ground clutter suppression with a large collection of airborne weather radar images as network input.For each weather radar image,the corresponding digital elevation model(DEM)image is extracted on basis of the radar antenna scan-ning parameters and plane position,and is further fed to the net-work as a supplement for ground clutter suppression.The fea-tures of actual meteorology targets are learned in each bottle-neck module of the proposed network and convolved into deeper iterations in the forward propagation process.Then the network parameters are updated by the back propagation itera-tion of the training error.Experimental results on the real mea-sured images show that our proposed DCNN outperforms the counterparts in terms of six evaluation factors.Meanwhile,the network outputs are in good agreement with the expected mete-orology detection results(labels).It is demonstrated that the pro-posed network would have a promising meteorology observa-tion application with minimal effort on network variables or parameter changes.

Power of SAR Imagery and Machine Learning in Monitoring Ulva prolifera:A Case Study of Sentinel-1 and Random Forest

Automatically detecting Ulva prolifera(U.prolifera)in rainy and cloudy weather using remote sensing imagery has been a long-standing problem.Here,we address this challenge by combining high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR)imagery with the machine learning,and detect the U.prolifera of the South Yellow Sea of China(SYS)in 2021.The findings indicate that the Random Forest model can accurately and robustly detect U.prolifera,even in the presence of complex ocean backgrounds and speckle noise.Visual inspection confirmed that the method successfully identified the majority of pixels containing U.prolifera without misidentifying noise pixels or seawater pixels as U.prolifera.Additionally,the method demonstrated consistent performance across different im-ages,with an average Area Under Curve(AUC)of 0.930(+0.028).The analysis yielded an overall accuracy of over 96%,with an average Kappa coefficient of 0.941(+0.038).Compared to the traditional thresholding method,Random Forest model has a lower estimation error of 14.81%.Practical application indicates that this method can be used in the detection of unprecedented U.prolifera in 2021 to derive continuous spatiotemporal changes.This study provides a potential new method to detect U.prolifera and enhances our under-standing of macroalgal outbreaks in the marine environment.

A novel oil spill detection method from synthetic aperture radar imageries via a bidimensional empirical mode decomposition

Oil spills pose a major threat to ocean ecosystems and their health. Synthetic aperture radar（SAR） sensors can detect oil spills on the sea surface. These oil spills appear as dark spots in SAR images. However, dark formations can be caused by a number of phenomena. It is aimed to distinguishing oil spills or look-alike objects. A novel method based on a bidimensional empirical mode decomposition is proposed. The selected dark formations are first decomposed into several bidimensional intrinsic mode functions and the residue. Subsequently, 64 dimension feature sets are calculated using the Hilbert spectral analysis and five new features are extracted with a relief algorithm. Mahalanobis distances are then used for classification. Three data sets containing oil spills or look-alikes are used to test the accuracy rate of the method. The accuracy rate is more than 90%. The experimental results demonstrate that the novel method can detect oil spills validly and accurately.

Method of moving target detection based on sub-image cancellation for single-antenna airborne synthetic aperture radar

The method of moving target detection based on subimage cancellation for single-antenna airborne SAR is presented. First the subimage is obtained through frequency processing is pointed out. The imaging difference of a stationary objects and moving object in the subimage based on the frequency division is analyzed from the fundamental principle. Then the developed method combines the shear averaging algorithm to focus on the moving target in the subimage, after the clutter suppression and the focusing position in each subimage is obtained. Next the observation model and the relative movement of the moving targets between the subimages estimate the moving targets. The theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the method is effective and can not only detect the moving targets, but also estimate their motion parameters precisely.

Texture invariant estimation of equivalent number of looks based on log-cumulants in polarimetric radar imagery

A novel estimation of the equivalent number of looks (ENL) is proposed in statistical modeling of multilook polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images for the product model, which is based on the log-determinant moments (LDM). The LDM estimators discovered by looking at certain log-cumulants of the intensities of different polarization channels and the multilook polarimetric covariance matrix, which can be used for both the Gaussian model and all product models. This estimator has analytic expressions, and uses the full covariance matrix and intensities as input, which makes more statistical information available. Experiments based on simulated data and real data are performed. The comparisons among the widely used methods of equivalent number of looks (ENL) estimation for the product model such as K and G0 distributions show that the performance of the LDM estimator is outstanding. The performance of estimators for the real data of San Francisco and Flevoland is analyzed and the results are according to those of simulated data. Finally, it can be concluded that the LDM estimator is well robust to each product model with low computational complexity and high accuracy. © 1990-2011 Beijing Institute of Aerospace Information.

A novel algorithm for ocean wave direction inversion from X-band radar images based on optical flow method

As one of the important sea state parameters for navigation safety and coastal resource management, the ocean wave direction represents the propagation direction of the wave. A novel algorithm based on an optical flow method is developed for the ocean wave direction inversion of the ocean wave fields imaged by the X-band radar continuously. The proposed algorithm utilizes the echo images received by the X-band wave monitoring radar to estimate the optical flow motion, and then the actual wave propagation direction can be obtained by taking a weighted average of the motion vector for each pixel. Compared with the traditional ocean wave direction inversion method based on frequency-domain, the novel algorithm is fully using a time-domain signal processing method without determination of a current velocity and a modulation transfer function（MTF）. In the meantime,the novel algorithm is simple, efficient and there is no need to do something more complicated here. Compared with traditional ocean wave direction inversion method, the ocean wave direction of derived by using this proposed method matches well with that measured by an in situ buoy nearby and the simulation data. These promising results demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm proposed in the paper.

Improved Multi-channel Blind Image Restoration Algorithm for UWB Radar

The imaging problem of low signal to noise ratio （SNR）echo is very important for ultra-wide band （UWB） through-wall radar. An improved multi-channel blind image restoration algorithm based on sub-space and constrained least square （CLS） is presented and applied to UWB radar system to deal with this issue. The high resolution of radar image is equivalent to multi-channel blind image restoration based on the improved model of the through-wall radar echo. And a new cost function is proposed to the multi-channel blind image restoration by considering the concept of sub-space as the limitation of blur identification. The proposed algorithm has all advantages of CLS and sub-space, and converts the image estimation to alternating-minimizing the two cost functions. Experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm is effective at improving the resolution of radar image even at low SNR.

Time-varying baseline error correction method for ground-based micro-deformation monitoring radar

In recent years, ground-based micro-deformation monitoring radar has attracted much attention due to its excellent monitoring capability. By controlling the repeated campaigns of the radar antenna on a fixed track, ground-based micro-deformation monitoring radar can accomplish repeat-pass interferometry without a space baseline and thus obtain highprecision deformation data of a large scene at one time. However, it is difficult to guarantee absolute stable installation position in every campaign. If the installation position is unstable, the stability of the radar track will be affected randomly, resulting in time-varying baseline error. In this study, a correction method for this error is developed by analyzing the error distribution law while the spatial baseline is unknown. In practice, the error data are first identified by frequency components, then the data of each one-dimensional array(in azimuth direction or range direction) are grouped based on numerical distribution period, and finally the error is corrected by the nonlinear model established with each group.This method is verified with measured data from a slope in southern China, and the results show that the method can effectively correct the time-varying baseline error caused by rail instability and effectively improve the monitoring data accuracy of groundbased micro-deformation radar in short term and long term.

Constrained geometry analysis to resolve 3-D deformations from three ground-based radars

When multiple ground-based radars(GB-rads)are utilized together to resolve three-dimensional(3-D)deformations,the resolving accuracy is related with the measurement geometry constructed by these radars.This paper focuses on constrained geometry analysis to resolve 3-D deformations from three GB-rads.The geometric dilution of precision(GDOP)is utilized to evaluate 3-D deformation accuracy of a single target,and its theoretical equation is derived by building a simplified 3-D coordinate system.Then for a 3-D scene,its optimal accuracy problem is converted into determining the minimum value of an objective function with a boundary constraint.The genetic algorithm is utilized to solve this constrained optimization problem.Numerical simulations are made to validate the correctness of the theoretical analysis results.

SAR IMAGE RECOGNITION BASED ON MULTI-ASPECT OF SHADOW INFORMATION

The traditional synthetic aperture radar（SAR） image recognition techniques focus on the electro magnetic （EM） scattering centers, ignoring the important role of the shadow information on the SAR image recognition. It is difficult to classify targets by the shadow information independently, because the shadow shape is dependent on the radar aspect angle, the depression angle and the resolution. Moreover, the shadow shapes of different targets are similar. When the multiple SAR images of one target from different aspects are available, the performance of the target recognition can be improved. Aimed at the problem, a multi-aspect SAR image recognition technique based on the shadow information is developed. It extracts shadow profiles from SAR images, and takes chain codes as the feature vectors of targets. Then, feature vectors on multiple aspects of the same target are combined with feature sequences, and the hidden Markov model （HMM） is applied to the feature sequences for the target recognition. The simulation result shows the effectiveness of the method.

Suppression of Speckle in SAR Images Using Wavelet-Based HMM

In order to suppress the speckle appearing in synthesis aperture radar (SAR) images, a novel speckle reduction method based on wavelet domain hidden Markov tree (HMT) was proposed. First, the image was logarithmic transformed to change the statistical property of the speckles. Then an HMT was constructed in the correspondent wavelet domain. Based on this model, the image signal was restored by maximum likelihood estimation and speckle noise was suppressed. Simulating SAR images had shown that the performance of the filter is satisfactory for both speckle smoothing and edges presentation, and for generating visually natural images as well.

Entropy function optimization for radar imaging

The convergence performance of the minimum entropy auto-focusing（MEA） algorithm for inverse synthetic aperture radar（ISAR） imaging is analyzed by simulation. The results show that a local optimal solution problem exists in the MEA algorithm. The cost function of the MEA algorithm is not a downward-convex function of multidimensional phases to be compensated. Only when the initial values of the compensated phases are chosen to be near the global minimal point of the entropy function, the MEA algorithm can converge to a global optimal solution. To study the optimal solution problem of the MEA algorithm, a new scheme of entropy function optimization for radar imaging is presented. First, the initial values of the compensated phases are estimated by using the modified Doppler centroid tracking （DCT）algorithm. Since these values are obtained according to the maximum likelihood （ML） principle, the initial phases can be located near the optimal solution values. Then, a fast MEA algorithm is used for the local searching process and the global optimal solution can be obtained. The simulation results show that this scheme can realize the global optimization of the MEA algorithm and can avoid the selection and adjustment of parameters such as iteration step lengths, threshold values, etc.