SYNTHETIC APERTURE SONAR FOR SEABED IMAGING - RELATIVE MERTIS OF NARROW-BAND AND WIDE-BAND APPROACHES

This paper describes the advantages of using wide-band sonar systems in underwater acoustical imaging by means of synthetic aperture (side-looking) sonars. These advantages will be illustrated through simulation examples. The simulations are conducted in two cases of sonar platform motion: perfect trajectory and disturbed trajectory. We will investigate several schemes used for wide-band synthetic aperture processing and evaluate their relative merits (resolution and complexity) in the case of both disturbed and perfect trajectories. Quantitative image evaluation is initially achieved through the evaluation of performance as regards resolution. The problems involved in the definition of the image quality are then discussed.