Motion compensation on Synthetic Aperture Sonar images

High resolution sonars are required to detect and classify mines on the sea-bed. Synthetic aperture sonar increases the sonar cross range resolution by several orders of magnitudes while maintaining or increasing the area search rate. The resolution is however strongly dependent on the precision with which the motion errors of the platform can be estimated. The term micro-navigation is used to describe this very special requirement for sub-wavelength relative positioning of the platform. Therefore algorithms were designed to estimate those motion errors and to correct for them during the (ω, k)-reconstruction phase. To validate the quality of the motion estimation algorithms a single transmitter/multiple receiver simulator was build, allowing to generate multiple point targets with or without surge and/or sway and/or yaw motion errors. The surge motion estimation is shown on real data, which were taken during a sea trial in November of 2003 with the low frequency (12 kHz) side scan sonar (LFSS) moving on a rail positioned on the sea-bed near Marciana Marina on the Elba Island, Italy.