Abstract

Christchurch, New Zealand. Fast and efficient imaging techniques have been developed for reconstructing data from the single-receiver synthetic aperture sonar (SAS). Therefore, it is advantageous to be able to combine multiple-receiver SAS data into the single-receiver data equivalent to employ these existing algorithms. In this thesis, a method is developed for combining the data efficiently. This method can be used with SAS systems containing any number of hydrophones arbitrarily located in a linear array and with the imaging platform travelling at any velocity. Motion errors resulting from the towed platform deviating from its straight path need to be determined and compensated accordingly. Sway and yaw are the primary motion errors of concern in low glancing angle side-looking sonar, since they are the major cause of image errors and artifacts in the reconstructions. Algorithms for es-timating both sway and yaw are presented based on prominent points. These have shown to work well in simulations.

Citations