Morphological-based source extraction method for HFSW radar ship detection

High Frequency Surface Wave (HFSW) radars are considered for target detection. These systems, commonly used for oceanographic purposes, are of interest in maritime surveillance because of their long range detection capabilities. Unfortunately, the received signals are strongly polluted by different noises. To improve target detection a method based on Morphological Component Analysis (MCA) is investigated. Shortly, this paper introduces HFSW radars and gives an overview of the MCA. Then, numerical results from simulated data illustrate the MCA-based target detection method. Comparisons with classical detection methods based on CFAR techniques (GOCA-CFAR and GOOS-CFAR) are proposed through Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves.