The Use of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Technology to Detect Oil Spills.

ABSTRACT:
The following report presents the SAR Technology, used for detection , analysis and management of Oil Spills through Satellite Images and analytical pictures. It is also used for topographic survey of the earth. This Technology has proved to be vital in detection of various natural phenomena and its study. SAR Technology uses a Radar mounted on a satellite and maps portions of the earth continuously. It is also used for surveillance. Remote sensing through Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR) is useful in several modes of oil spill control, including large area surveillance, site specific monitoring and tactical assistance in emergencies. Remote sensing is able to provide essential information to enhance strategic and tactical decisionmaking, potentially reducing incidence of spills by providing a deterrent factor, decreasing response costs by facilitating rapid oil recovery and ultimately minimizing impact.

1. INTRODUCTION:
The Synthetic Aperture Technology is used across the world to obtain satellite imageries to detect and analyze Oil spills and their nature, in order to curb their consequences. Oil spills are caused due to spilling of oil on ocean surfaces. It causes enormous amounts of Economical and environmental losses. Many instruments like Booms, Skimmers, etc are used to clean up oil spills.

1.1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Technology (SAR) : SAR stands for synthetic Aperture Radar. This is a radar mounted on satellites and is used to detect and analyze oil spills and other topographic details. It mainly helps in detection of oil slicks on the surface of the sea and hence is very important in Pollution management. Satellites equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), can provide information on the presence of oil at sea. The presence of oil film on the sea surface damps the small capillary and short gravity waves and drastically reduces the Bragg scattering and therefore the measured backscattering energy, resulting in darker areas in SAR imagery. However, dark areas may be also caused by other phenomena, called look-alikes, such as organic film, grease ice, wind front areas, areas sheltered by land, rain cells, current shear, internal waves and up-welling zones. As a consequence, an important factor to be taken into account for the analysis of oil at sea is related to wind information, which can be obtained by external data sources or derived from SAR images.[1]

2. History of SAR:
Synthetic aperture radar was invented by David E. Sunstein (1918-1978). Sunstein was a communications engineer and entrepreneur. Carl A. Wiley, a mathematician at Goodyear Aircraft Corporation in Litchfield Park, Arizona, later reinvented synthetic aperture radar in June 1951 while working on a correlation guidance system for the Atlas ICBM program. In early 1952, Wiley, together with Fred Heisley and Bill Welty, constructed a concept validation system known as DOUSER. During the 1950s and 1960s Goodyear Aircraft (later Goodyear Aerospace) introduced numerous advancements in SAR technology.

3.Principle of SAR :
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a technique currently used to do imaging from a satellite or a plane emitting and recording electromagnetic waves. In the SAR configuration an antenna moves along a known trajectory and emits a train of pulses. The waves are scattered by the probed region and the backscattered waves are detected by the same antenna.
This section shows some basics of the SAR principle. The presentation comprises the fundamental facts which will be declared by descriptive considerations. Mathematical details are avoided for the benefit of understanding. Assume a planar formation as depicted in Figure 1a), given in the coordinates x and y. A radar sensor at a known location on the x-axis transmits a short pulse2 and receives the echoes reflected by an object of the scene. The SAR-system stores

the received signals in a two-dimensional data array which is parameterized in radar position and echo signal delay which is denoted by t in the figure. The proportional relation of the delay t and the object distance r allows the use of the distance parameter r instead of the parameter t. According to the distance of all scene elements the echoes superpose each other and result in the recorded data column. The data column contains a range profile.

Figure 1: Two-Dimensional SAR Geometry: a) data column of a distributed scene for a fixed antenna, b) data of point targets for a moving antenna.

Quasi, the antenna moves steplike. A hyperbolic range history in the data array results for each reflector like it is indicated by the curves in Figure 1 b). Points will be generated in a second data array at the positions of the hyperbola vertex. If the signal intensity of the individual echoes which results from the reflectivity of the scene points

controls the brightness of the points in the second data array, an image of the scene results. For a realistic scene one can imagine, that it is composed of innumerable point targets. Optimized algorithms for image generation focus the distributed energy of the raw data for all scene locations simultaneously.[2]

4. The SAR System :

Main parts of a SAR system are depicted in Figure 3. A pulse generation unit creates pulses with a bandwidth according to the aspired range resolution. They will be amplified by the sender and are transferred to the antenna via a circulator. The receiver gets the antenna output signal (echoes of the scene) amplifies them to an appropriate level and applies a bandpass filter. After the demodulation and A/D conversion of the signals the SAR processor starts to calculate the SAR image. Additional motion information will be provided by a motion measurement system. A radar control unit arranges the operation sequence, particularly the time schedule.[5,2]

Figure 3: General structure of SAR System

5. Sub-systems :

5.1 Synthetic Aperture : In SAR, forward motion of actual antenna is used to synthesize a very long antenna. At each position a pulse is transmitted, the return echoes pass through the receiver and recorded in an echo store. The Doppler frequency variation for each point on the ground is unique signature. SAR processing involves matching the Doppler frequency variations and demodulating by adjusting the frequency variation in the return echoes from each point on the ground. Result of this matched filter is a high-resolution image. The aperture is basically the angle swept by the radar in the course of mapping. Figure below shows the synthetic aperture length.[1,3]

Figure 4: Synthetic Aperture Length

The Synthetic Aperture Angle is the angle swept during the course of mapping.

Figure 5 : Synthetic Aperture Angle

5.2 RADAR: RADAR is an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging. Radar works like a flash camera but at radio frequency. Typical radar system consists of transmitter, switch, antenna, receiver and data recorder. The transmitter generates a high power of electromagnetic wave at radio wavelengths. The switch directed the pulse to antenna and returned echo to receiver. The antenna transmitted the EM pulse towards the area to be imaged and collects returned echoes. The returned signal is converted to digital

number by the receiver and the function of the data recorder is to store data values for later processing and display. Fig. 2.1 shows the simply block diagram of a radar system.[1]

Figure 6: Basic Block Diagram of RADAR

The radar platform flies along the track direction at constant velocity. For real array imaging radar, its long antenna produces a fan beam illuminating the ground below. The along track resolution is determined by the beam width while the across resolution is determined by the pulse length. The larger the antenna, the finer the detail the radar can resolve.

6. METHODOLOGY :

A three-dimensional array (a volume) is defined which will represent the volume of space within which targets exist. Each element of the array is a cubical voxel representing the probability (a "density") of a reflective surface being at that location in space. Initially, the SAR algorithm gives each voxel a density of zero. Then, for each captured waveform, the entire volume is iterated. After all waveforms have been iterated over all voxels, the basic SAR processing is complete. SAR requires that echo captures be taken at multiple antenna positions. The more captures taken (at different antenna locations) the more reliable the target characterization. Multiple captures can be obtained by moving a single antenna to different locations, by placing multiple stationary antennae at different locations, or combinations thereof. The advantage of a single moving antenna is that it can be easily placed in any number of positions to provide any number of monostatic waveforms. For example, an antenna mounted on an airplane takes many captures per second as the plane travels. The principal advantages of multiple static antennae are that a moving target can be characterized (assuming the capture electronics are fast enough), that no vehicle or motion machinery is necessary, and that antenna positions need not be derived from other, sometimes unreliable, information. (One problem with SAR aboard an airplane is knowing precise antenna positions as the plane travels). For multiple static antennae, all combinations of monostatic and multistatic radar waveform captures are possible. Note, however, that it is not advantageous to capture a waveform for each of both transmission directions for a given pair of antennae,

because those waveforms will be identical. When multiple static antennae are used, the total number of unique echo waveforms that can be captured is

where N is the number of unique antenna positions.

6.1 The Description of an Imaging Radar: The geometry of an imaging radar is shown in Fig.7. The physical aperture of the radar with width Wa and length l generates a RF beam whose angular across track3 dB beamwidth of antenna and angular along-track3 dB beamwidth of antenna is V and H respectively. V is determined by the width and length of antenna, and wavelength of transmitted signal ( ). This relation is written as [3], V = /Wa eqn 1

The antenna is mounted on a platform such as an aircraft that travels along a flight path with velocity v. It illuminates the shaded path (known as footprint) on the ground as the aircraft moves in the direction of flight path. The width of the ground swath is simply given by Wg = R Wa cos .eqn. 2

where

is the incidence angle (lookangle) of the beam, R is the slant from the antenna to

the midpoint of swath. The RF energy transmitted from antenna has a duration p and is repeated at a given interval, pulse repetition interval (PRI) that can be inverted to obtain the pulse repetition frequency (PRF).

6.3 The resolution of a real Aperture Radar :

Ground resolution is defined as the ability of the system to distinguish between two targets on the ground. Ground range resolution is shown

Figure 7 : The imaging Radar geometry

in Fig.8 as g. The range resolution of real aperture radar is given as [1], g=c p 2 sin .eqn 3

where p is the pulse length and c is the speed of light. The range resolution is the function of pulse width and look angle but independent of height. Azimuth resolution is the minimum distance on the ground in the direction parallel to the flight path of the aircraft at which two targets can be separately imaged. Two targets

located at same slant range can be resolved only if they are not in the radar beam at the same time. Fig.9 shows the angular spread of the radar beam in the azimuth direction is equal to H = /l eqn 4

Figure 8: Range resolution of a real Aperture Radar

Thus, the azimuth resolution can be written as,

a = R H = R /l

eqn 5

The azimuth resolution is dependent on aperture length. In order to improve resolution, a longer antenna needs to be employed. The mechanical problems involved in constructing an antenna with a surface precision accurate to within a fraction of wavelength, and the difficulty in maintaining that level of precision in an operational environment, make it difficult to attain values of l/ greater than a few hundred aperture [3].

6.4 Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar : SAR is based on the generation of an effective long antenna by signal processing means rather than by the actual use of a long physical antenna. The SAR processing can be achieved by utilizing the Doppler effect (frequency shift) of the echo signal. The geometry of SAR is shown in Fig. 10. The aircraft is mapping the point, p, whose coordinates are xo, yo, 0. The aircraft will fly a synthetic array of length L, centered at y = 0 at speed v, parallel to the y-axis and altitude, ho. The time to fly the array is T = L/v. The range from the aircraft to p can be written R = (xo2+ (yo vt)2 + ho2 )1/2 where T/2 t T/2, for L << R, Ro =( xo2+ yo2 + h o 2 ) 1/2

Figure 9: Azimuth Resolution

Figure 10: Illustration of Azimuth Resolution of SAR.

7. Detection Methodology in Terms of Oil Slicks :

Figure 11:SAR image of an oil slick,by the ENVISAT ASAR (Bohai sea,4th Nov, 2008)

For any other complex prediction of the oil slick spread, oceanographic and meteorological conditions of the local area are needed at the start. In the Lebanon case, where the oil slick spread up to 200 km along the coast it is not possible to accurately foretell the events without the use of programs for simulation drift fate and weathering of oil slicks. For instance, in a case like this with the oil slick traveling along the coast, with which it is constantly in contact, stranding reduces the floating part of the mass and the exposure to breaking waves and tide currents can wash the stranded slick back out to sea. How long the slick will stay or travel with the current and wind depends on the

discharged quantity, oil type and conditions in the field. The mass of the discharged oil decreases in the start due to evaporation of volatile components. Some fuels evaporate completely in some hours. Rough seas, high wind speeds and high temperature will further increase the rate of evaporation. The process of evaporation increases the density of the remaining floating mass, which allows for separation and the potential for sinking. This phenomenon is typical for heavy fuel oils that already have a high density and during the night, when it is cooler, can exceed in density that of the water and thus sink . A slick discharged on a sand beach can mix with the sand and then sink when washed to sea. Many oils, especially those with asphalt content grater than 0.5% tend to absorb water to form water-in-oil emulsion which can increase the volume of the pollutant by a factor between three and four. Such emulsions are often extremely viscous and so processes which would dissipate the oil are retarded. The emulsion can partially sink, but mostly this is the main reason for the persistence of light and medium crude oils on the sea surface. Waves and turbulence on the sea surface may also act on the slick to produce oil droplets with a wide range and size. This weathering process, known as natural dispersion, additionally reduces the mass of the floating slick. Small droplets that remain in suspension become mixed into water columns. But on the other hand, this process may increase the polluted area by forming a very thin film; i.e., large droplets rise back to the surface behind the advancing slick.[6].

8. IMAGE ANALYSIS: [4]

The composite SAR image yielded from texture analysis of the image shows positon and area of spillage in fig. 12. Oil slicks that have resulted from discharges from ships, and other potential slick-like features such as natural film slicks caused by climatic and sea current effects, or algal blooms, can all resemble slicks producedby seepage, but will not keep their location and shape for long periods due to dispersion by sea surface conditions such as waves, winds and current.

At the sea surface slicks were seen to be formed by the slow collapse and spreading of bubbles of oil as they broach the surface. Coalescence of the thinnest, outer parts of these round iridescent blobs form the thin, colorless slicks responsible fot the wave-damping observed by SAR. The slicks, although small, can be seen on image. Contrast of the slicks against the sea surface vary with radar depression angle period of several days or longer under the relatively calm sea conditions. Speckles appearing on SAR images is a natural pehonomenon, generated by the coherent processing of radar echoes. The presence of speckle not only reduces the interpreters ability to resolve fine detail, but also makes automatic segmentation of such images difficult. To solve this problem several filtering methods such as Lee and Gamma filters can be helpful in cases such as oil spill detection and oil spill classification. Consequently, the SAR image histogram is a linear combination of several Gamma functions. Each mode in the histogram is a Gamma function and represents a class in this image. Filter size will greatly affect the quality of processed images. If the filter is too small, the noise-filtering algorithm is not effective. If the filter is too large, subtle details of the image will be lost in the filtering process. A 7x7 filter usually gives the best results,(fig 12)

Figure 12 : SAR imagery

9. Some SARs in space :

9.Example

of

an

Imaging

radar

SIR-C/X-SAR:

Figure 13: SIR-C/X-SAR Panel

SIR-C/X-SAR (The Spaceborne Imaging Radar - Version C and the X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) was the most advanced space radar imaging system when it was developed. The SIR-C/X-SAR antenna structure actually consists of three individual antennas, one operating at L-band (23.5cm wavelength), one at C-band (5.8cm wavelength) and the third at X-band (3cm wavelength). The L-band and C-band antennas are constructed from separate panels that can measure both horizontal and vertical polarizations. SIR-C/X-SAR (Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a joint project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the German

Space Agency (DARA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Data are collected in LBand and C-Band by SIR-C, and X-Band by X-SAR. An imaging radar system launched aboard the NASA Space Shuttle twice in 1994, SIR-C/X-SAR's unique contributions to Earth observation and monitoring are its capability to measure, from space, the radar signature of the surface at three different wavelengths and make measurements for different polarizations at two of those wavelengths. It was designed to fit in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle. SIR-C/X-SAR also has a variable look angle, and could image at incidence angles between 20 and 65 degrees.

10. APPLICATIONS OF SAR:

SAR has got a broad range of applications. y For remote sensing a couple of earth observing satellites are currently in operation, having imaging sensors working in different spectral areas. The usability of optical sensors depends not only on daylight but also on the actual weather conditions. Clouds and strong rain are impenetrable for this wavelength. Infrared sensors which are applicable day and night are even more sensitive on weather conditions. Consequently, radar sensors represent a completion of the sensor collection for remote sensing. y Beyond the overall availability of SAR images there are further pros for the utilization of radar. The coherent nature of SAR enables the user to process images of subsequent overflights for interferometrical analyses. Depending on the radar wavelength the radar signal will be reflected by vegetation or the ground structure. With the choice of a concrete centre frequency of the SAR sensor, the developer decides about the appearance of the resulting radar images. Different combinations of the transmit and receive polarization can also be used for instance to classify the kind of vegetation. y Also in military context, the availability of SAR is its convincing advantage. Applications in this area are wide spread: y Global reconnaissance is done mainly by satellite systems, aircrafts and high flying unmanned platforms carry sensors for wide area observation and miniaturized SAR equipment is used for integration into drones for battlefield surveillance. y The resolution of SAR systems, which indicates the minimal distance of two small targets in the scene which can be separated in the SAR image, has been improved over the last decades up to the order of a decimetre. Advanced

classification algorithms are able to identify military objects in the scene which is of great interest. y The exploitation of the relative motion between the sensor and the scene is an essential drawback of the SAR principle. While this motion can be derived completely for a fixed scene from the motion data of the SAR platform, moving objects own an additional motion component which disturbs the imaging process. y For future systems an inverse SAR mode (ISAR) will be added to image moving objects. No doubt, this is an essential feature for military application. In a realistic scenario, one sensor will perform the compound task to monitor a ground area, indicate and track moving objects and finally produce highly resolved images of the moving objects for target classification. y Operation of a bi- or multi-static configuration offers some more advantages. The receiver system, including expensive acquisition electronics, need not to transmit any energy and thus can be designed hardly detectable. Stealth targets feature a minimized mono-static radar cross section (RCS). Target echoes might be

considerably higher in a bi-static configuration so the probability of detection will be increased.

11. ADVANTAGES OF SAR :

y One of the main advantages with a satellite imaging sensor, such as Radarsat SAR, is the ability to cover large areas of the earths surface in a very short time. y This satellite can send data irrespective of day and night and give us cloud free images. y Automatic and immediate information can be obtained.

12. DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE RESEARCH:

Today, operational satellite based oil-spill detection services are mainly utilising SAR sensors onboard satellites such as ENVISAT and RADARSAT-1 and -2. In order to reduce the problem of reporting look-alikes as potential spills, the human satellite-service operators use additional information such as wind velocity (model or SAR wind) or other sea-state conditions to support the the image may provide additional information about the specific shape, surroundings and edges of the feature.

13. CONCLUSION :
The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an all-weather imaging tool that achieves fine along-track resolution by taking the advantage of radar motion to synthesize a large antenna aperture. SAR technology has provided terrain structural information to geologists for mineral exploration, oil spill boundaries on water to environmentalists, sea state and ice hazard maps to navigators, and reconnaissance and targeting information to military operations.
Today, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) plays an important role in military ground surveillance and earth observation. Since the late eighties a couple of SAR-systems have been developed for both space and airborne operation. The underlying radar principle offers advantages compared to competing sensors in infrared or visible spectral area.

14.REFERENCES :
[1] On the SAR derived alert in the detection of oil spills according to the analysis of the EGEMP ; by Guido Ferraro , Bjrn Baschek , Geraldine de Montpellier , Ove Njoten , Marko Perkovic , Michele Vespe ; Marine Pollution Bulletin 60 (2010) 91102 [2] Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ; by Dr. Patrick Berens ; RTOEN-SET-086 . [3] The usage of Radar Images in oil spill detection;by A. Akkartal, F. Sunar ; The

International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B8. Beijing 2008. [4] An introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR); by Y. K. Chan and V. C. Koo; Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 2, 2760, 2008.
[5]

Coherent interferometric imaging for synthetic aperture radar in the presence of

noise. ; by Josselin Garnier and Knut Slna ; Inverse Problems 24 (2008) 055001. [6] Petroleum Hazards Management by geomatic systems ; by H Assilzadeh, S. B. Mansor, H.M. Ibrahim ; Paper presented at the 22nd Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, 5-9 November 2001, Songapore.2001 Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processsing(CRISP), National University of Singapore; Singapore Institute of surveyors and Valuers (SISV) ; Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS).

[7] Detection of Oil Slick Signatures in SAR Images by Fusion of Hysteresis Thresholding Responses ; by Thomas. F.N. Kanaa, E. Tonye, G. Mercier, V.P. Onanac, J. Mvogo Ngono, P.L. Frison, J.P. Rudant, and R. Garello ; 0-7803-79306/$17.00 (C) 2003 IEEE

[8] Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ; by Dr. Patrick Berens ; RTO-ENSET-086 .

[9] Application of SAR Imagery in Oil spill Modelling ; by Marko Perkovi, M.Sc., Matej David, B.Sc. Stojan Petelin, D.Sc. Richard P. Harsh ; Marko Perkovi, Matej David,

Stojan Petelin, Richard P. Harsh, Leonard Delgado:APPLICATION OF SAR IMAGERY IN OIL SPILL MODELING.

[10] M. I. Skolnik, Introduction to Radar Systems, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1980.