Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operates in shared frequency bands and is susceptible to radio frequency interference (RFI), which can degrade image quality by introducing specific image artifacts. It affects the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 mission, whose open SAR data support a wide range of Earth observation applications. Because RFI is not mitigated during standard Sentinel-1 processing, it can lead to false alarms and reduced performance of downstream analysis algorithms. While most RFI studies rely on large (“raw”) products, operational workflows favour compact Level-2 ground range detected (GRD) imagery.

Are you ready to bring the Sentinel-1 data processing chain to the next level?

Your mission:

The ClearSAR Challenge targets the operational detection of radio-frequency interference in Sentinel-1 SAR imagery. The challenge benchmarks automated methods that are robust, scalable, and suitable for integration into Sentinel-1 processing chains.

Track 1 focuses on RFI detection from quicklook (RGB) images, reflecting the most widely available product level used for large-scale and rapid monitoring.

Track 2 pushes beyond quicklook imagery, moving into the realities of the Sentinel-1 processing chain. The objective does not change but the constraints do. More information to come... stay tuned!

A curated dataset of Sentinel-1 data with annotated RFI events is provided for each track (note that two different, separate datasets are provided), representing realistic mission conditions. The challenge is organized at the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing 2026 (IEEE ICIP 2026), positioning operational SAR data-quality monitoring as a core image-processing problem and linking the ESA SAR and image-processing communities.

Your timeline:

Please note that, due to the nature of this Challenge, there are two types of deadlines:

Deadlines related to the Challenge itself (D-C)

Deadlines related to the paper that should be submitted to ICIP 2026 (D-P)

• (D-C) Announcement of the ClearSAR-Track 1 Challenge: February 11, 2026
• (D-C) Launch of the ClearSAR-Track 1 Challenge and dataset access: February 27, 2026
• (D-C) On-line workshop for the ClearSAR-Track 1 Challenge: Ca. first week of April 2026 (exact date to be announced)
• (D-C) Closing the ClearSAR-Track 1 Challenge (frozen leaderboard): May 13, 2026
• (D-P) Two-page extended abstract submission to IEEE ICIP 2026: May 13, 2026
• (D-C) Reproducibility check by organizers (Top 10 teams): May 20 – June 30, 2026
• (D-P) Two-page abstract acceptance notification: June 10, 2026
• (D-P) Camera-ready two-page extended abstract submission: July 1, 2026
• (D-P) Author registration due at IEEE ICIP 2026: July 16, 2026
• (D-C) Award ceremony and announcing winners: September 13-17, 2026 at IEEE ICIP 2026

Get ready!

Check out the other pages for a full overview of the data, rules, and prizes!