On Feature Matching and Image Registration for Two-dimensional Forward-scan Sonar Imaging

The computer processing of forward-look sonar video imagery enables significant capabilities in a wide variety of underwater operations within turbid environments. Accurate automated registration of sonar video images to complement measurements from traditional positioning devices can be instrumental in the detection, localization, and tracking of distinct scene targets, building feature maps, change detection, as well as improving precision in the positioning of unmanned submarines. This work offers a novel solution for the registration of two-dimensional (2-D) forward-look sonar images recorded from a mobile platform, by optimization over the sonar 3-D motion parameters. It incorporates the detection of key features and landmarks, and effectively represents them with Gaussian maps. Improved performance is demonstrated with respect to the state-of-the-art approach utilizing 2-D similarity transformation, based on experiments with real data. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.