Automatic track tracing in SAR CCD images using search cues

In this paper, we present an algorithm for automatic vehicle track tracing in synthetic aperture radar coherent change detection (SAR CCD) images using search cues. The framework consists of two main steps. The first step uses a rotating matched filter that is modeled to characterize the appearance of vehicle tracks in SAR CCD imagery. For every pixel, the algorithm searches the orientations of the filter that best match the local orientations of the track path using normalized cross correlation. The second step includes track tracing from the estimated orientation image obtained from the previous step. Given a search cue, the tracing algorithm aims to find a parallel track path that maximizes the global length of the curve, and minimizes the differences in the pixel positions and orientations.