• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.73-74
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• 2009

This study attempts to establish a system extracting and monitoring cultural grounds of seaweeds (lavers, brown seaweeds and seaweed fulvescens) and abalone on the basis of both KOMPSAT-2 and Terrasar-X data. The study areas are located in the northwest and southwest coast of South Korea, famous for coastal cultural grounds. The northwest site is in a high tidal range area (on the average, 6.1 m in Asan Bay) and has laver cultural grounds for the most. An semi-automatic detection system of laver facilities is described and assessed for spaceborne optic images. On the other hand, the southwest cost is most famous for seaweeds. Aquaculture facilities, which cover extensive portions of this area, can be subdivided into three major groups: brown seaweeds, capsosiphon fulvescens and abalone farms. The study is based on interpretation of optic and SAR satellite data and a detailed image analysis procedure is described here. On May 25 and June 2, 2008 the TerraSAR-X radar satellite took some images of the area. SAR data are unique for mapping those farms. In case of abalone farms, the backscatters from surrounding dykes allows for recognition and separation of abalone ponds from all other water-covered surfaces. But identification of seaweeds such as laver, brown seaweeds and seaweed fulvescens depends on the dampening effect due to the presence of the facilities and is a complex task because objects that resemble seaweeds frequently occur, particularly in low wind or tidal conditions. Lastly, fusion of SAR and optic spatial images is tested to enhance the detection of aquaculture facilities by using the panchromatic image with spatial resolution 1 meter and the corresponding multi-spectral, with spatial resolution 4 meters and 4 spectrum bands, from KOMPSAT-2. The mapping accuracy achieved for farms will be estimated and discussed after field verification of preliminary results.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.627-636
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• 2021

Although many studies on ship detection using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images are being conducted around the world, there are still very few employing SAR microsatellites, as most of the microsatellites are optical satellites. Recently, the ICEYE and Capella Space have embarked on the development of microsatellites with SAR sensor, and similar projects are being initiated globally in line with the flow of the new space era [e.g., for the ICEYE: 18 satellites (~2021); Capella Space: 36 satellites (~2023); and the Coast Guard SAR: 32 satellites in the early development stage]. In preparation for these new systems, it is important to review the SAR microsatellite system and the recent advances in this technology. Accordingly, in this paper, the current status and characteristics of optical and SAR microsatellite constellation operation are described, and studies using them are investigated. In addition, based on the status and characteristics of the representative SAR microsatellites, specifically the ICEYE and Capella systems, methods for using SAR microsatellite data for ship detection applications are described. Our results confirm that the SAR microsatellites operate as a constellation and have the advantages of short revisit cycles and quick provision of high-resolution images. With this technology, we expect SAR microsatellites to contribute greatly to the monitoring a wide-area target vessel, in which the spatiotemporal resolution of the imagery is especially important.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.169-172
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• 2005

Modem SAR interferometry (IFSAR) sensors delivering intensity images and corresponding digital terrain model (DTM) allow for a thorough surface lineament interpretation with the all-weather day-night applicability. In this paper, an automatic linear-feature detection algorithm for high-resolution SAR images acquired in Taiwan is proposed. Methodologies to extract linear features consist of several stages. First, the image denoising techniques are used to remove the speckle noise on the raw image. In this stage, the Lee filter has been chosen because of its superior performance. After denoising, the Coefficient of Variation Detector is performed on the result images for edge enhancements and detection. Dilation and erosion techniques are used to reconnect the fragmented lines. The Hough transform, which is a special case of a more general transform known as Radon transform, is a suitable method for line detection in our analysis. Finally, linear features are extracted from the binary edge image. The last stage contains many substeps such as edge thinning and curve pruning.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.185-205
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• 2014

SAR ground moving target indicator (GMTI) has long been an important issue for SAR advanced applications. As spatial resolution of space-borne SAR system has been significantly improved recently, the GMTI becomes a very useful tool. Various GMTI techniques have been developed particularly using multi-channel SAR systems. It is, however, still problematic to detect ground moving targets within single channel SAR images while it is not practical to access high resolution multi-channel space-borne SAR systems. Once a ground moving target is detected, it is possible to retrieve twodimensional velocities of the target from single channel space-borne SAR with an accuracy of about 5 % if moving faster than 3 m/s. This paper presents a quick-and-dirty method for detecting ground moving targets from single channel SAR single-look complex (SLC) images by differentiation. Since the signal powers of derivatives present Doppler centroid and rate, it is very efficient and effective for detection of non-stationary targets. The derivatives correlate well with velocities retrieved by a precise method with a correlation coefficient $R^2$ of 0.62, which is well enough to detect the ground moving targets. While the approach is theoretically straightforward, it is necessary to remove the effects of residual Doppler rate before finalizing the ground moving target candidates. The confidence level of results largely depends on the efficiency and effectiveness of the residual Doppler rate removal method. Application results using TerraSAR-X and truck-mounted corner reflectors validated the efficiency of the method. While the derivatives of moving targets remain easily detectable, the signal energy of stationary corner reflectors was suppressed by about 18.5 dB. It results in an easy detection of ground targets moving faster than 8.8 km/h. The proposed method is applicable to any high resolution single channel SAR systems including KOMPSAT-5.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.502-517
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• 2019

Global warming and rapid climate change have long affected the characteristics of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific, which has induced increasing devastating disasters along the coastal regions of the Korean peninsula. Synthetic Aperature Radar (SAR), as one of the microwave sensors, makes it possible to produce high-resolution sea surface wind field around the typhoon under cloudy atmospheric conditions, which has been impossible to obtain the winds from satellite optical and infrared sensors. The Geophysical Model Functions (GMFs) for sea surface wind retrieval from SAR data requires the input of wind direction, which should be based on the accurate estimation of the center of the typhoon. This study estimated the typhoon centers using Sentinel-1A images to improve the problem of typhoon center detection method and to reflect it in retrieving the sea surface wind. The results were validated by comparing with the typhoon best track data provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), and also by using infrared images of Himawari-8 satellite. The initial center position of the typhoon was determined by using VH polarization, thereby reducing the possibility of error. The detected center showed a difference of 23.76 km on average with the best track data of the four typhoons provided by the KMA and JMA. Compared to the typhoon center estimated by Himawari-8 satellite, the results showed an average spatial variation of 11.80 km except one typhoon located near land with a large difference of 58.73 km. This result suggests that high-resolution SAR images can be used to estimate the center and retrieve sea surface wind around typhoons.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_4
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• pp.1935-1943
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• 2022

The development and application of a high-resolution soil moisture mapping method using satellite imagery has been considered one of the major research themes in remote sensing. In this study, soil moisture mapping in the test area of Jeju Island was performed. The soil moisture was calculated with optical images using linearly adjusted Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) polarization images and incident angle. SAR Backscatter data, Analysis Ready Data (ARD) provided by Google Earth Engine (GEE), was used. In the soil moisture processing process, the optical image was applied to normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) by surface reflectance of KOMPSAT-3 satellite images and the land cover map of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). When the SAR image and the optical images are fused, the reliability of the soil moisture product can be improved. To validate the soil moisture mapping product, a comparative analysis was conducted with normalized difference water index (NDWI) products by the KOMPSAT-3 image and those of the Landsat-8 satellite. As a result, it was shown that the soil moisture map and NDWI of the study area were slightly negative correlated, whereas NDWI using the KOMPSAT-3 images and the Landsat-8 satellite showed a highly correlated trend. Finally, it will be possible to produce precise soil moisture using KOMPSAT optical images and KOMPSAT SAR images without other external remotely sensed images, if the soil moisture calculation algorithm used in this study is further developed for the KOMPSAT-5 image.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.431-439
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• 2010

Cross-interferometic synthetic aperture radar (CInSAR) technique from ERS-2 and Envisat images is capable of generating submeter-accuracy digital elevation model (DEM). However, it is very difficult to produce high-quality CInSAR-derived DEM due to the difference in the azimuth and range pixel size between ERS-2 and Envisat images as well as the small height ambiguity of CInSAR interferogram. In this study, we have proposed an efficient method to overcome the problems, produced a high-quality DEM over northern Alaska, and compared the CInSAR-derived DEM with the national elevation dataset (NED) DEM from U.S. Geological Survey. In the proposed method, azimuth common band filtering is applied in the radar raw data processing to mitigate the mis-registation due to the difference in the azimuth and range pixel size, and differential SAR interferogram (DInSAR) is used for reducing the unwrapping error occurred by the high fringe rate of CInSAR interferogram. Using the CInSAR DEM, we have identified and corrected man-made artifacts in the NED DEM. The wave number analysis further confirms that the CInSAR DEM has valid Signal in the high frequency of more than 0.08 radians/m (about 40m) while the NED DEM does not. Our results indicate that the CInSAR DEM is superior to the NED DEM in terms of both height precision and ground resolution.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.250-253
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• 2007

Korean Multi-Purpose SATellite 5 (KOMPSAT-5) will be the first high resolution X-band SAR satellite of Korea. A critical parameter necessary for interpreting SAR images over the ocean is surface wind field. SAR is the only system that can provide a synoptic view of wind fields over the ocean covering large areas. However, there has been no X-band wind retrieval model. In this study, we evaluate the development of an X-band wind retrieval model and show the possibility of KOMPSAT-5 SAR on wind estimations using a combination of theoretical models.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.299-307
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• 2008

It is possible to extract qualified ground control points (GCPs) from SAR data itself without published maps. TerraSAR-X data that are one of highest spatial resolution among civilian SAR systems is now available. In this study, a sophisticated method for GCP extraction from TerraSAR-X data was tested and the quality of the extracted GCPs was evaluated. Mean values of the distance errors were 0.11m and -3.96 m with standard deviations of 6.52 m and 5.11 m in easting and northing, respectively. The result is one of the best among GCPs possibly extracted from any civilian remote sensing systems. The extracted GCPs were used for geo-rectification of IKONOS image. The method used in this study can be applied to KOMPSAT-5 for geo-rectification of high-resolution optic images acquired by KOMPSAT-2 or follow-up missions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2020

The fighter pilot uses radar mounted on the fighter to obtain high-resolution SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images for a specific area of distance, and then the pilot visually classifies targets within the image. However, the target configuration captured in the SAR image is relatively small in size, and distortion of that type occurs depending on the depression angle, making it difficult for pilot to classify the type of target. Also, being present with various types of clutters, there should be errors in target classification and pilots should be even worse if tasks such as navigation and situational awareness are carried out simultaneously. In this paper, the concept of operation and functional structure of radar system for fighter jets were presented to transfer the SAR image target classification task of fighter pilots to radar system, and the method of target classification with high accuracy was studied using the CNN ensemble model to archive higher classification accuracy than single CNN model.