An X-Band Radar System for Bathymetry and Wave Field Analysis in a Harbour Area
Giovanni Ludeno,
Ferdinando Reale,
Fabio Dentale,
Eugenio Pugliese Carratelli,
Antonio Natale,
Francesco Soldovieri,
Francesco Serafino
Affiliations
Giovanni Ludeno
Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy
Ferdinando Reale
Maritime Engineering Division University of Salerno (MEDUS), Department of Civil Engineering of University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Fabio Dentale
Maritime Engineering Division University of Salerno (MEDUS), Department of Civil Engineering of University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Eugenio Pugliese Carratelli
Maritime Engineering Division University of Salerno (MEDUS), Department of Civil Engineering of University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Antonio Natale
Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy
Francesco Soldovieri
Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy
Francesco Serafino
Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy
Marine X-band radar based systems are well tested to provide information about sea state and bathymetry. It is also well known that complex geometries and non-uniform bathymetries provide a much bigger challenge than offshore scenarios. In order to tackle this issue a retrieval method is proposed, based on spatial partitioning of the data and the application of the Normalized Scalar Product (NSP), which is an innovative procedure for the joint estimation of bathymetry and surface currents. The strategy is then applied to radar data acquired around a harbour entrance, and results show that the reconstructed bathymetry compares well with ground truth data obtained by an echo-sounder campaign, thus proving the reliability of the whole procedure. The spectrum thus retrieved is then analysed to show the evidence of reflected waves from the harbour jetties, as confirmed by chain of hydrodynamic models of the sea wave field. The possibility of using a land based radar to reveal sea wave reflection is entirely new and may open up new operational applications of the system.
