Analysis of Ship RCS Detected by Multifrequency HFGWR

Abstract

One of the important applications of high frequency-ground wave radar (HFGWR) is to detect offshore ships. A proper method should be used to obtain the ship radar cross section (RCS), which is a key parameter of the ship. This paper proposes a method based on an automatic information system (AIS). The relationship of the ship RCS versus bearing for different frequencies is analyzed by processing multifrequency HFGWR data. With this new method, bearing information is taken into consideration, which is not the case in traditional empirical formulas. The results provide prior knowledge for ship detection and tracking; therefore, the probability of detection is significantly improved.