Proof of Feasibility of the Sea State Monitoring from Data Collected in Medium Pulse Mode by a X-Band Wave Radar System

Giovanni Ludeno,Francesco Soldovieri,Francesco Raffa,Francesco Serafino

doi:10.3390/rs10030459

Abstract

X-band marine radars can be exploited to estimate the sea state parameters and surface current. However, to pursue this aim, they are set in such a way as to radiate a very short pulse to exploit the maximum spatial resolution. However, this condition strongly limits the use of radar as an anti-collision system during navigation. Consequently, a continuous change of radar scale is needed to perform both the operations of waves and current estimations and target tracking activities. The goal of this manuscript is to investigate the possibility of using marine radar working in a medium pulse mode to estimate the sea state parameters and surface current, while assuring suitable anti-collision performance. Specifically, we compare the capabilities of the X-band radar for sea state monitoring when it works in short and medium pulse modes and we present the results of a comparison based on data collected during two experimental campaigns. The provided results show that there is good agreement about the estimation of wave parameters and the surface current field that make us hopeful that, in principle, it is possible to use the medium pulse mode to achieve information about sea state with a reasonable degradation.

Highlights

Marine radars are usually deployed for surveillance purposes, i.e., for the detection and tracking of targets to avoid possible collisions in shipping routes
X-band marine radar has been employed as a remote sensing tool for sea state monitoring, on ships [1,2,3,4,5,6] and in coastal areas [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
The wavelength of X-band radar signal is approximatively equal to the wavelength of ripples present on the sea surface when a wind speed higher than 3 m/s is present

Summary

Introduction

Marine radars are usually deployed for surveillance purposes, i.e., for the detection and tracking of targets to avoid possible collisions in shipping routes. X-band marine radar has been employed as a remote sensing tool for sea state monitoring, on ships [1,2,3,4,5,6] and in coastal areas [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. The wavelength of X-band radar signal is approximatively equal to the wavelength of ripples present on the sea surface when a wind speed higher than 3 m/s is present. In this case, electromagnetic waves interact with the sea waves of similar wavelength [14] and this interaction generates backscattered radar echoes [15]. The use of X-band marine radar for sea wave monitoring has two main drawbacks: (i) the radar signal in X-band can be significantly attenuated by rainfall; and (ii) the effectiveness of the radar for sea state monitoring is well assessed for short range, which is not suitable for navigation purposes

Methods

Results

Conclusion