Application

technical
Traffic monitoring via satellite
by Stefan Baumgartner and Gerhard Krieger, German Aerospace Centre

Traffic monitoring from space, day and night, from more than 500 km up above; is that possible? Indeed it
is. At the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) Microwaves and Radar Institute a special traffic processor for the
German TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X radar satellite constellation has been developed.

D
uring the past years monitoring
of road and maritime traffic
has evolved into an important
research topic. Nowadays a lot of
motorways are equipped with stationary
sensors to monitor the actual road
traffic situation with the aim of ensuring
mobility and increasing the safety of
road users. Unfortunately, such detailed
traffic information is missing outside the
major motorways due to a lack of sensor
installations. There is no information
about vehicles moving off-road at all.
Taking a look at the maritime traffic
situation, larger international voyaging
vessels are equipped with automatic
identification systems (AIS) to improve
the guidance and to avoid accidents
[1]. However, AIS signals from vessels
moving on the open sea often are too
weak to be received by the terrestrial
AIS stations distributed along the coast Fig. 1: TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X in close formation flight (artist's view).
lines. To solve this problem, several
companies and institutions already
have demonstrated that AIS signals two identical X-band radar satellites satellite system, where both satellites
principally could be received using flying in close formation at an altitude transmit and receive independently
spaceborne systems. However, even if of 514 km (Fig. 1). Both satellites are from each other, is used. Each satellite
an operational AIS spaceborne system equipped with synthetic aperture radar transmits several thousand radar
would be implemented in the near (SAR) instruments enabling imaging pulses per second and receives the
future, information about smaller vessels of the earth's surface, independent corresponding backscattered echoes
carrying no AIS transceivers will not be of sunlight illumination and weather from the earth's surface. The radar
available. conditions. The primary objective of the echoes or the raw data, respectively,
satellite constellation is the generation are digitalised and stored in the mass
Air- and spaceborne radars flying
of a consistent global digital elevation memories onboard the spacecrafts.
at high altitudes provide an elegant
model (DEM) with accuracies according Each time the spacecrafts are in the
solution to fill these gaps, especially
to HRTI-3 standard or even better [2]. visibility range of one of the ground
if this information is required only on
Therefore, both satellites act as a large stations, the raw data are downloaded.
a non-regular basis as in the case of
single-pass SAR interferometer with On ground SAR images are generated
special events or catastrophes. An
the opportunity for flexible baseline1 and furthermore, the developed traffic
innovative and already operational
selection. Besides the primary mission processor is applied to detect the
spaceborne radar system having the
goal, several secondary mission objectives moving vehicles and to estimate their
ability to contribute to road as well
of innovative character complement the motion and position parameters.
as to maritime traffic monitoring
applications is the German TerraSAR-X/ mission. One of these objectives is traffic Both satellites circle around the earth
TanDEM-X satellite constellation. monitoring from space, which should 15 times per day. Thus, one and the
be demonstrated with a SAR satellite same area on ground can not be
TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X constellation for the first time. monitored continuously. Anyhow, from
constellation a particular area of interest a snapshot
For the traffic processor explained
in one of the next sections, the so can be taken every 2,5 to 4 days. For
TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, launched
called “Pursuit Monostatic Mode” of the more frequent or even continuous
in 2007 and 2010, respectively, are
monitoring, respectively, more than two
Note 1: The baseline corresponds to the distance between both satellites. satellites or a different system concept

PositionIT – June 2011 57

 Application technical

would be required, e.g. a system with

a geostationary illuminator and several
small passive receive-only satellites in
low earth orbit [3].

SAR and moving objects

Originally, SAR was designed for

imaging the stationary world with high
resolution. Thus, objects on the ground
which are not stationary may cause
some strange effects in the SAR images.
To radar, the main difference between
a stationary and a moving object is the
different Doppler frequency2. Owing
to the nature of conventional SAR
processing, moving objects in SAR
images are depicted displaced from
their actual positions [4]. An example
is shown in Fig. 2. Here a moving
train appears displaced from its actual
position, the rail track. The shown SAR
image is the very first image acquired
with TerraSAR-X on 19 June 2007, only
a few days after its launch. Fig. 2: SAR image acquired with TerraSAR-X near Wolgograd, Russia. The zoom on the upper
right shows a moving train appearing displaced from its actual position, the rail track.
The displacements are proportional to
the speeds of the objects. For instance,
the displacement of a slow vessel
moving with 17 kn (= 31,5 km/h) is
in the order of 600 m, whereas the
displacement of a road vehicle moving
with 130 km/h is in the order of
2500 m for a typical spaceborne SAR
imaging geometry. Thus, the accurate
determination of the actual position of
the moving object is quite challenging.
This is where the traffic processor
comes in. Its purpose is to detect the
moving objects and to determine their
actual positions and speeds with high
precision.

Single satellite case

If only one radar satellite is used for

traffic monitoring, a priori knowledge
about the roads contained in the SAR
image is required. This additional
information can be obtained from a
road database. The displacements of
the moving road vehicles can then
be measured directly and the vehicle
speeds, which are proportional to the
displacements, can be calculated. A
traffic processor working with this
method in an operational manner
already has been implemented for the
Fig. 3: Moving target displacements in the SAR images acquired with the first (top left) and
TerraSAR-X satellite [5].
second SAR satellite (top right). The displacement difference is shown at the bottom.
However, this a priori knowledge-based
traffic processor has some drawbacks,
especially if traffic in densely populated assignment of the moving vehicles to and position parameters of vehicles
zones with a number of parallel roads the correct roads is challenging or even moving off-road can not be determined
should be monitored. The unambiguous impossible. Furthermore, the motion at all.

Note 2: The Doppler frequency is caused by the relative velocity between the transmitter (i.e. the radar platform in space, which itself is in motion) and the object on ground.

58 PositionIT – June 2011

 Application technical
On the TerraSAR-X satellite two
receiving antennas separated in
flight direction are implemented.
This enables the use of along-track
interferometry (ATI) instead of the
a priori knowledge-based traffic
processor for moving object detection
and parameter estimation. The ATI
phases are directly proportional to
the speeds of the moving objects.
Unfortunately, especially in the
spaceborne case the ATI phase is
severely influenced by noise and
clutter so that the position estimation
accuracy in the worst-case is in the
order of hundreds of metres. Hence,
reliable moving object detection and
parameter estimation in general is not
possible.
Principle of the new traffic
processor
The prototype traffic processor
implemented for the TerraSAR-X/
TanDEM-X satellite constellation is not
subject to the limitations mentioned
above. There is no need for a road
database or any other a priori
knowledge. Vehicles moving off-road
and vessels at sea can be detected
clearly and their motion and position
parameters can be estimated with
high accuracy.
As already mentioned, TerraSAR-X
and TanDEM-X are flying in close
formation with the opportunity for
flexible baseline selection. Cross-track
baselines (= distances between both
satellites perpendicular to flight
direction) are necessary for DEM
generation, whereas along-track
baselines (= distances between
both satellites in flight direction) are
needed for traffic monitoring.
Having the satellites separated in
along-track direction, one and the
same area on ground is imaged by
TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X at slightly
different times. Again, moving
objects appear displaced from
their actual positions in both SAR
images. However, one and the same
moving object appears on different
“displaced” positions in the images,
since the object has moved between
both radar acquisitions. This fact is
sketched in Fig. 3. The displacement
difference of the moving object can
be observed by comparing both SAR
images. This displacement difference
depends on the along-tack baseline
between the satellites (i.e. the time
lag between both acquisitions), as
60
Fig. 4: Moving vessel in the Strait of Gibraltar imaged with
TerraSAR-X (red) and TanDEM-X (green).
Fig. 5: Simplified flow chart of the traffic processor (middle). Some of the steps are different,
depending on whether traffic on the ocean (left) or on land (right) should be monitored.
well as on the speed of the moving
object.
In Fig. 4 the TerraSAR-X image
(red) of a vessel moving in the
Strait of Gibraltar overlayed with the
corresponding TanDEM-X image (green)
is shown. The TanDEM-X image was
acquired with a time lag of 2,5 s. The
displacement difference and hence, the
motion of the vessel from left to right
can clearly be recognised.
The displacement differences for
each detected moving object can be
measured with high accuracy. From
the measured displacement differences
the actual positions, the speeds,
the moving directions or headings,
respectively, and even the accelerations
of the moving objects can be calculated
accurately. The mathematical
background for performing these
calculations and a detailed description
of the algorithm used for the traffic
processor can be found in [6].
In Fig. 5a simplified flow chart of
the traffic processor is shown. In the
preprocessing step, SAR images are
generated from the raw data and
calibration is carried out. Depending
on whether traffic on the land surface
or on the ocean should be monitored,
clutter suppression (i.e. the
suppression of the stationary world)
is necessary before weak signals from
moving objects can be detected.
The procedure for detecting traffic on
the ocean is sketched in Fig. 5 on the
left. In general no clutter suppression
is necessary since the signals from
larger vessels are quite strong and
the background clutter is rather
weak. The vessels can be detected on
their displaced positions using only a
single SAR image. The displacement
difference is then estimated using a
two-dimensional correlator, where as
a reference patch for the correlation
of the image of the detected vessel is
used.
Detecting objects moving on the
land surface is more complicated
as depicted on the right in Fig. 5.
Clutter suppression is necessary, in
the simplest way by using the DPCA
technique3. After clutter suppression,
only one single DPCA image
PositionIT – June 2011

Fig. 6: SAR image of the Strait of Gibraltar (left) and detected vessels (right). The red and
green colours represent the vessels in the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X images.
remains for displacement difference
estimation.
From the displacement differences
estimated by the correlator the
position and motion parameters of the
moving objects can be computed. In
the next processing steps the objects
are georeferenced and the results are
visualised.
Note 3: DPCA is a simple clutter suppression technique where the SAR image acquired with the aft antenna is subtracted from the image acquired with the fore antenna.
Note 4: For achieving the primary mission objectives, i.e. the DEM generation, an along-track baseline much smaller than 20 km is required. Thus, the 20 km baseline only
was available during the commissioning phase.
PositionIT – June 2011
Experimental results
Only during the early commissioning
phase of TanDEM-X the along-track
baseline between both satellites
was in the order of 20 km4,
corresponding to a time lag of
approximately 2,5 s. This is just
the time lag promising the best
performance of the proposed traffic
Application technical
processor. Therefore, we took the
unique chance to acquire 20 data takes
of different test sites with the large
along-track baseline, with the aim of
demonstrating traffic monitoring with a
SAR satellite constellation for the first
time as well as to evaluate and verify
the traffic processor.
For monitoring vessels the Strait of
Gibraltar and the port of Halifax,
Canada, were used as test sites. As
ground truth AIS data have been
considered. The parameter estimation
errors caused by the traffic processor
are assessed by comparing the
estimates with the AIS reference.
One result from a Gibraltar data take is
shown in Fig. 6. The SAR image size is
approximately 15 x 50 km². All vessels
have automatically been detected in the
SAR image by the traffic processor. By
having a look at the right side of the
image, it can be recognised that some of
the vessels have changed their headings
between both observations. Thus, the
heading change has to be considered at
the two-dimensional correlation step in
the traffic processor. This can be done
by rotating the reference image patch
successively before performing the
correlations. The difference between the
position estimates obtained from the
traffic processor and the AIS reference
data in average is better than 20 m, the
speed difference is better than 0,3 kn.
The traffic processor also delivers a
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) file
as output, which can be viewed using
Google Earth. An example is shown in
Fig. 7. The detected vessels are depicted
as coloured symbols in the image. The
positions of the symbols represent
the true positions of the vessels. The
user can click on a symbol to open a
window (cf. right side in Fig. 7) showing
all the relevant information about the
vessel. In this example, the window also
includes the automatically merged AIS
reference data, which are used to verify
the performance of the traffic processor.
There are other output formats available
in addition to KML, which enable a more
detailed, automated traffic assessment
and data analysis process, by a traffic
management centre, for example.
For monitoring road traffic as test
sites the Pacific Coast Highway in the
north-west of Los Angeles and the
Interstate 15 in the north-east of Las
61
 Application technical
Fig.7: Results of vessel monitoring in the Strait of Gibraltar. The vessels are shown by
coloured symbols (the positions of the symbols represent the true positions). As explained in
the text, the radar images of the ships (white) can be seen displaced from the symbols by a
distance of up to 550 m.
Fig. 8: Traffic monitoring results obtained from one Interstate 15 data take (top: Google Earth
image; bottom: histograms of the position differences (left) and heading differences (right)).
Vegas were used. No ground truth
data were available. Thus, it is not
possible to determine the detection
rate of the traffic processor in this
case. However, since the geographical
positions of the highways are known,
the position estimation accuracy of
the traffic processor can be computed
directly by measuring the residual
offsets between the estimated vehicle
positions and the road axes. Also the
heading differences can be evaluated
since the directions of the road axes
62
are also known.
The evaluation results of an Interstate
15 data take are shown in Fig. 8. The
mean value of the heading differences
of 31 detected road vehicles is 0,55°.
The mean of the speed differences
is 0,57 km/h, and the mean of the
position differences is 10,97 m. This
is a really impressive value, especially
considering that no other SAR satellite
system has ever achieved this moving
vehicle position estimation accuracy,
particularly without the use of a road
database or other a priori knowledge.
Conclusion and outlook
First preliminary results confirm that
the motion and position parameter
estimation accuracy of the proposed
and implemented prototype traffic
processor achieves a superb
performance. The position estimation
accuracy for road vehicles on average
is in the order of 11 m, and for vessels
in the order of 20 m. These figures are
quite impressive.
In order to statistically confirm the
preliminary results, the remaining
data takes acquired during the
commissioning phase have to be
evaluated. Furthermore, we are
also interested in optimising the
implemented prototype traffic
processor and in developing a new
multi-purpose traffic processor which
also can cope with smaller along-track
baselines.
References
[1] Automatic Identification System.
[Online] 2010, March. Available:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
AutomaticIdentificationSystem.
[2] G Krieger, A Moreira, H Fiedler, I Hajnsek,
M Werner, M Younis, and M Zink:
”TanDEM-X: A satellite formation for
high-resolution SAR interferometry”, IEEE
Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 3317-3341,
November 2007.
[3] K H Bethke, S Baumgartner, M Gabele,
D Hounam, E Kemptner, D Klement,
G Krieger and R Erxleben: ”Air- and
spaceborne monitoring of road traffic
using SAR moving target indication –
Project TRAMRAD”, ISPRS Journal of
Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing, vol.
61, pp. 243-259, 2006.
[4] R K Raney: ”Synthetic aperture imaging
radar and moving targets”, IEEE
Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic
Systems, vol. AES-7, no. 3, pp. 499-505,
May 1971.
[5] F Meyer, S Hinz, A Laika, D Weihing and
R Bamler: ”Performance analysis of the
TerraSAR-X Traffic monitoring concept”,
ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry &
Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 225-242, 2006.
[6] S V Baumgartner, G Krieger and
K H Bethke: ”A Large Along-Track
Baseline Approach for Ground Moving
Target Indication Using TanDEM-X”, in
International Radar Symposium (IRS),
Cologne, Germany, September 2007.
Contact Stefan Baumgartner,
Microwaves and Radar Institute,
stefan.baumgartner@dlr.de
PositionIT – June 2011