Detection of linear features in synthetic-aperture radar images by use of the localized Radon transform and prior information.

A new linear-features detection method is proposed for extracting straight edges and lines in synthetic-aperture radar images. This method is based on the localized Radon transform, which produces geometrical integrals along straight lines. In the transformed domain, linear features have a specific signature: They appear as strongly contrasted structures, which are easier to extract with the conventional ratio edge detector. The proposed method is dedicated to applications such as geographical map updating for which prior information (approximate length and orientation of features) is available. Experimental results show the method's robustness with respect to poor radiometric contrast and hidden parts and its complementarity to conventional pixel-by-pixel approaches.