Ship detection is important for a wide range of applications. In this article, an airborne passive interferometric microwave sensor (PIMS) is proposed as a powerful complementary tool for ship detection. The fundamental of ship detection by the airborne PIMS is introduced. A specification called “the detection factor” is addressed to quantitatively assess the performance of the airborne PIMS for ship detection. The detection probability is discussed and addressed based on the constant false-alarm rate (CFAR). Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the feasibility of ship detection by the airborne PIMS. The impacts of the atmosphere and the sea wind on the performance of the airborne PIMS for ship detection are also addressed in terms of theoretical analyses and numerical simulations. The airborne experiments are also carried out by an X-band PIMS to verify the practicability of ship detection by the airborne PIMS in a sunny weather and a cloudy weather. The data processing procedure and a ship detection algorithm in the experiments are introduced. The airborne experimental results reveal that the ships can be effectively detected and tracked by the airborne X-band PIMS in a sunny weather and a cloudy weather. It demonstrates the practicability of ship detection by the airborne PIMS. The ship detection probability is also analyzed, which agrees well with the theoretical detection probability.

中文翻译：

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机载无源干涉微波传感器 (PIMS) 的船舶检测

船舶检测对于广泛的应用非常重要。在本文中，提出了一种机载无源干涉微波传感器（PIMS）作为船舶检测的强大补充工具。介绍了机载PIMS船舶探测的基本原理。一种称为“检测因子”的规范旨在定量评估机载 PIMS 的船舶检测性能。基于恒定误报率 (CFAR) 讨论和解决检测概率。进行数值模拟以证明机载 PIMS 船舶检测的可行性。大气和海风对用于船舶探测的机载 PIMS 性能的影响也在理论分析和数值模拟方面得到解决。机载实验还通过X波段PIMS进行，验证了机载PIMS在晴天和多云天气下船舶探测的实用性。介绍了实验中的数据处理过程和船舶检测算法。机载实验结果表明，机载X波段PIMS在晴天和多云天气都能有效地对舰船进行探测和跟踪。证明了机载PIMS对船舶探测的实用性。还分析了船舶探测概率，与理论探测概率吻合较好。机载实验结果表明，机载X波段PIMS在晴天和多云天气都能有效地对舰船进行探测和跟踪。证明了机载PIMS对船舶探测的实用性。还分析了船舶探测概率，与理论探测概率吻合较好。机载实验结果表明，机载X波段PIMS在晴天和多云天气都能有效地对舰船进行探测和跟踪。证明了机载PIMS对船舶探测的实用性。还分析了船舶探测概率，与理论探测概率吻合较好。