Superpixel-Based CFAR Target Detection for High-Resolution SAR Images

In this letter, a new superpixel-based constant-false-alarm-rate (CFAR) target detection algorithm for high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is proposed. The detection algorithm consists of three stages, i.e., segmentation, detection, and clustering. In the segmentation stage, a superpixel-generating algorithm is utilized to segment the SAR image. In the detection stage, based on the superpixels generated, the clutter distribution parameters for each pixel can be adaptively estimated, even in the multitarget situations. Then, the two-parameter CFAR test statistic can be adopted for detection. In the clustering stage, the hierarchical clustering is used to cluster the detected superpixels to get the candidate targets. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated using the miniSAR data.