Performance Assessment of a Mathematical Morphology Ship Detection Algorithm for SAR Images through Comparison with AIS Data

This paper describes a procedure to evaluate the performance of ship detection algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) using real SAR images and Automatic Identification System (AIS) data as ground truth. Accurate AIS-SAR data association is achieved by correcting the AIS data for the SAR induced position errors by exploiting SAR acquisition parameters and vessel state information (speed and course) provided by AIS tracks. The methodology has been tested on a ship detection algorithm based on mathematical morphology which is described in this paper. The evaluation has been carried out on a RADARSAT-2 data set including images at different acquisition modes which was collected in the Mediterranean Sea. Estimates for the detection and the false alarm probability, and the contact position error are provided.