AN INTERFEROMETRIC FRONT SCAN SONAR SYSTEM: BENEFITS IN COMPOUND IMAGING AND ESTIMATE OF THE RELIEF AHEAD OF THE PLATFORM AFFORDED BY THE INTERFEROMETRIC CAPABILITY

摘要

The prototype of a multibeam front-scan sonar has been developed within the frame of a MAST contract (n° MAS3-CT97-0090 DG12-ESCY, acronym COSMOS). Most of the outcomes of the project are based on the redundancy of information afforded by the footprint overlap between successive pings. The interf'erometric capability yields a powerful tool for locating properly the spatial origin of incoming echoes. This paper addresses: 1) several theoretical and experimental aspects of the degree of correlation between signals received by an interferometer; 2) the processing technique devised with the COSMOS system to extract soundings from interferometric measurements; 3) the compound imaging technique used to build a mapping of the relief; 4) the potential of the system to reduce the influence of the systematic biases.