SAR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT TO CLEANING OUT SEA CLUTTER

THE EFFECTS OF SEA CLUTTERON SAR IMAGES ARE VERY PRONOUNED AND IMPAIR TARGET DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION. A TECHNIQUE CALLED CLEAN CAN BE USED TO REMOVE THE EFFECTS OF THE DISCERNIBLE WAVE PHENOMENA PRESENT IN SAR IMAGES, REDUCE SEA CLUTTER INTENSITIES AND IMPROVE TARGET DETECTION. THE PROPOSED CLEAN TECHNIQUE WILL OPERATE ON THE FOURIER TRANSFORM OF THE IMAGE TO REMOVE STRONG SPACIAL FREQUENCY COMPONENTS WHICH ARE DUE TO THE WAVE MODULATED NATURE OF SEA CLUTTER IN THE IMAGE PLANE. TARGET INTENSITY AS A FIRST APPROXIMATION WILL NOT BE REDUCED BY APPLYING CLEAN BECAUSE THE TARGET IS PHYSICALLY SMALL IN RELATION TO THE SIZE OF THE IMAGE PLANE AND WILL HAVE ITS ENERGY SPREAD IN THE SPACIAL FREQUENCY PLANE MORE THAN THE DISTRIBUTEDSEA CLUTTER'S ENERGY. AFTER REMOVING THE SEA WAVE COMPONENTS FOUND IN THE IMAGE, AN INVERSE FOURIER TRANSFORM IS PERFORMED AND THE RESULT IS AN IMAGE WITH THE TARGETS UNAFFECTED AND THE SEA CLUTTER INTENSITY REDUCED. THIS WILL RESULT IN IMPROVED TARGET DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION.