NICOP - Sonar Image Enhancement for fly-by mission
Abstract
The imaging sonar systems have the potential to be used in many Navy missions in turbidwaters, such as, MCM, target recognition and ID, surveillance, and generally to enhanceautonomy of subsea robotic vehicles. Among current technologies, 2-D forward-lookBlueView sonar video systems have the advantages of affordability, small size, and arelatively wide horizontal field of view to image a relatively large area of the scene in eachframe. However, large footprint due to 1 [deg] horizontal beam-width and lower rangeresolution, as well as high speckle noise are key factors in producing images with relativelylow SNR.A current ONR sponsored project, directed by Dr. Negahdaripour at the University ofMiami (UM), is addressing the cited BlueView sonar shortcomings. It attempts to produceenhanced images with higher target SNR, through post-processing of several images recordedat nearby poses. The goal of our ONRG project is to complement the UM work, exploringalternative methods within the proposed UM framework, while enabling applicability towider range of operations.For example, the space carving methodology for 3-D reconstruction -- the initial step in theapplication of the UM approach ~ is ideal for objects suspended in mid-water. In contrast, ourwork will build on our 3-D reconstruction method for targets laid on the sea bottom in fly-bymission. Collectively, the integration of both approaches would enable devising a moreuniversal solution for enhancing the target images recorded by BlueView systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 10, 2018
- Source ID
- N629091812083
Entities
People
- Son-cheol Yu
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy