Synthetic aperture 3D buried object imaging

摘要

A towed synthetic aperture sonar called buried object scanning sonar (BOSS) performs synthetic aperture processing and generates orthogonal projections of 3D subsurface data to view objects buried in the seabed. The development of BOSS is reviewed, including significant results. During an experiment in St Andrews Bay, Florida, the latest version of BOSS, called BOSS-160, generated images of small cylinders (simulating ordnance) buried at two shallow water sites with 3m water depths, and with sand and muddy sand bottom types. Image projections show the orientation, length and burial depth of cylinders with diameters of 5, 7.5, 10 and 15cm.