Sea state characterization using fractal techniques on experimental one – dimensional radar signatures

This paper presents a novel method of sea state characterization using the ‘Mean Fractal Length (MFL)' criterion which is applied to experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) one – dimensional signatures (range profiles), provided to our research group by SET 215 Working Group on ‘SAR radar techniques'. The MFL criterion uses the ‘blanket' technique to provide sea state characterization from SAR radar range profiles. It is based on the calculation of the area of a ‘blanket', corresponding to the range profile under examination, and then on the calculation of the corresponding ‘Fractal Length' of the range profile. The main idea concerning this proposed technique is the fact that SAR radar range profiles corresponding to different sea states yield different values of ‘Fractal Length, FL', namely ‘turbulent sea' yields range profiles with larger FL, because of the more ‘anomalous behaviour' of the range profiles in that case. As a result, a sea state characterization technique for two different sea states (turbulent and calm sea) is presented in this paper.