Seafloor measurements using synthetic aperture sonar

Abstract

The past decade has seen considerable growth in the use of synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) imaging systems in both the civilian and military domains. Although SAS systems are almost always uncalibrated, they can still yield information about the seafloor given an understanding of the mechanisms affecting the statistical properties of the images produced by these systems. This paper will describe our recent efforts to link SAS image statistics to seafloor properties through the use of seafloor scattering models. Sample results are shown. © 2013 Acoustical Society of America.