Authors :
Javeria Fiaz; Sami Ud Din; Imran Ullah
Volume/Issue :
Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 10 - October
Google Scholar :
https://tinyurl.com/4cmnudzz
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26Oct657
Note : A published paper may take 4-5
working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and
ResearchGate.
Abstract :
The accurate classification of ocean wave phenomena is essential for maritime surveillance, coastal engineering, and environmental monitoring applications. This study addresses the challenge of distinguishing between ship-generated Kelvin wakes and natural plunging breaking waves using machine learning techniques. A synthetic dataset consisting of 800 samples (400 per wave type) is generated under controlled simulation conditions.
Keywords :
Maritime Surveillance; Wave Classification; Kelvin Wake Detection; Plunging Wave; Machine Learning; Remote Sensing; SAR Simulation.
References :
- M. Cirano et al., "A description of existing operational ocean forecasting services around the globe," State of the Planet Discussions, vol. 2024, pp. 1-44, 2024.
- S. Bandopadhyay, L. Pal, and R. D. Das, "Predicting gross primary productivity and PsnNet over a mixed ecosystem under tropical seasonal variability: a comparative study between different machine learning models and correlation-based statistical approaches," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 014523-014523, 2021.
- L. Meng and X.-H. Yan, "Remote sensing for subsurface and deeper oceans: An overview and a future outlook," IEEE Geoscience and remote sensing magazine, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 72-92, 2022.
- E. M. Hammermeister et al., "New capability in autonomous ocean carbon observations using the autosub long-range AUV equipped with novel pH and total alkalinity sensors," Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 59, no. 14, p. 7129, 2025.
- M. J. LeClair, "Detecting Breaking Waves and Measuring Bore Speeds in Optical Surf Zone Imagery Using Machine Learning," University of Washington, 2025.
- J. Meng, H. Zhang, L. Sun, and J. Wang, "Remote sensing techniques for detecting internal solitary waves: A comprehensive review and prospects," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 46-78, 2024.
- J. Wang, L. Guo, Y. Wei, and S. Chai, "Study on ship Kelvin wake detection in numerically simulated SAR images," Remote Sensing, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 1089, 2023.
- C. Dong, X. Meng, J. Zhang, Y. Liu, Q. Wei, and L. Guo, "Analytical Modeling of Electromagnetic Scattering and HRRP Characteristics from the 3D Sea Surface with a Plunging Breaker," Remote Sensing, vol. 15, no. 11, p. 2912, 2023.
- T. Song et al., "A review of artificial intelligence in marine science," Frontiers in Earth Science, vol. 11, p. 1090185, 2023.
- S. Qiao, Q. Zhang, and Z. Wang, "A review of deep-learning-based SAR image ship interpretation technology: The latest advances," IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2025.
- A. Mazzeo et al., "UEIKAP: space-based ship wake detection integrating contextual meteomarine knowledge of local sea state," in Artificial Intelligence and Image and Signal Processing for Remote Sensing XXX, 2024, vol. 13196: SPIE, pp. 195-207.
- C. Xu, Q. Wang, X. Wang, X. Chao, and B. Pan, "Wake2Wake: Feature-guided self-supervised wave suppression method for SAR ship wake detection," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, pp. 1-14, 2024.
- A. Jiaqiu et al., "A novel ship wake CFAR detection algorithm based on SCR enhancement and normalized Hough transform," IEEE geoscience and remote sensing letters, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 681-685, 2011.
- M. D. Graziano, M. D’Errico, and G. Rufino, "Ship heading and velocity analysis by wake detection in SAR images," Acta astronautica, vol. 128, pp. 7282, 2016.
- A. Tuel et al., "OceanSAR-2: A Universal Feature Extractor for SAR Ocean Observation," arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.07392, 2026.
- R. Touzi, M. M. Jarzebska, K. Smolarczyk, B. Dawidowicz, M. Felli, and F. Di Felice, "UDIES ON SIGNATURES AND CHARACTERIS," LITERATURE REVIEW ON VESSEL DETECTION, vol. 42, no. 10, p. 53, 2003.
- G. Zilman, A. Zapolski, and M. Marom, "On detectability of a ship's Kelvin wake in simulated SAR images of rough sea surface," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 609-619, 2014.
- O. Karakuş and A. Achim, "On solving SAR imaging inverse problems using nonconvex regularization with a cauchy-based penalty," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 5828-5840, 2020.
- M. Zhang, H. Chen, and H.-C. Yin, "Facet-based investigation on EM scattering from electrically large sea surface with two-scale profiles: Theoretical model," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 1967-1975, 2011.
- M. A. Sletten, "Multipath scattering in ultrawideband radar sea spikes," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 45- 56, 1998.
- M. Dehmollaian and K. Sarabandi, "Electromagnetic scattering from foliage camouflaged complex targets," IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 2698-2709, 2006.
- Q. Xu, C. Zhao, Z. Chen, S. Wu, X. Wang, and L. Fan, "Characterization of 77 GHz radar backscattering from sea surfaces at low incidence angles: Preliminary results," Remote Sensing, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 116, 2025.
- K. Oumansour, Y. Wang, and J. Saillard, "Multifrequency SAR observation of a ship wake," IEE Proceedings-Radar, Sonar and Navigation, vol. 143, no. 4, pp. 275-280, 1996.
- M. A. Sletten, "Multipath scattering in ultrawideband radar sea spikes," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 45- 56, 2002.
- Q. Xu, C. Zhao, Z. Chen, S. Wu, X. Wang, and L. Fan, "Characterization of 77 GHz Radar Backscattering from Sea Surfaces at Low Incidence Angles: Preliminary Results," Remote Sensing, vol. 17, no. 1, 2025.
- C. Truesdell, Fluid Dynamics/Strömungsmechanik. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
- P. Insom et al., "A support vector machine-based particle filter method for improved flooding classification," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 1943-1947, 2015.
- Y. Li, P. Xie, Z. Tang, T. Jiang, and P. Qi, "SVMbased sea-surface small target detection: A falsealarm-rate-controllable approach," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 1225-1229, 2019.
- C. Sukawattanavijit, J. Chen, and H. Zhang, "GASVM algorithm for improving land-cover classification using SAR and optical remote sensing data," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 284-288, 2017.
- A. Dey, M. Rahman, D. V. Ratnam, and N. Sharma, "Automatic detection of GNSS ionospheric scintillation based on extreme gradient boosting technique," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 19, pp. 1-5, 2021.
- S. Georganos, T. Grippa, S. Vanhuysse, M. Lennert, M. Shimoni, and E. Wolff, "Very high resolution object-based land use–land cover urban classification using extreme gradient boosting," IEEE geoscience and remote sensing letters, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 607-611, 2018.
- Z. Shao, M. N. Ahmad, and A. Javed, "Comparison of random forest and XGBoost classifiers using integrated optical and SAR features for mapping urban impervious surface," Remote Sensing, vol. 16, no. 4, p. 665, 2024.
- T. Chen, "XGBoost: A Scalable Tree Boosting System," Cornell University, 2016.
- F.-G. Jiang, M.-D. Li, and S.-W. Chen, "Adaptive Gaussian-PSO XGBoost Model for Alpine Forests Aboveground Biomass Estimation Using Spaceborne PolSAR and LiDAR Data," IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2025.
- Z. Xu, J. Chen, J. Xia, P. Du, H. Zheng, and L. Gan, "Multisource earth observation data for landcover classification using random forest," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 789-793, 2018.
- J. Xia, W. Liao, J. Chanussot, P. Du, G. Song, and W. Philips, "Improving random forest with ensemble of features and semisupervised feature extraction," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 1471-1475, 2015.
- Z. Liu, B. Tang, X. He, Q. Qiu, and F. Liu, "Classspecific random forest with cross-correlation constraints for spectral–spatial hyperspectral image classification," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 257-261, 2017.
The accurate classification of ocean wave phenomena is essential for maritime surveillance, coastal engineering, and environmental monitoring applications. This study addresses the challenge of distinguishing between ship-generated Kelvin wakes and natural plunging breaking waves using machine learning techniques. A synthetic dataset consisting of 800 samples (400 per wave type) is generated under controlled simulation conditions.
Keywords :
Maritime Surveillance; Wave Classification; Kelvin Wake Detection; Plunging Wave; Machine Learning; Remote Sensing; SAR Simulation.