INTERFEROMETRIC SYNTHETIC-APERTURE SONAR FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION 3-D MAPPING OF THE SEABED

A technique is described and demonstrated for generating high-resoluti on 3-D images of the objects on the seabed, combining synthetic apertu re sonar with bathymetric (interferometric) processing. This has appli cations in surveying of oil wells, pipelines and shipwrecks, and in de fence in mine hunting. It is shown that the technique is very sensitiv e to platform motion errors, and ways are discussed by which the error s may be estimated and compensated. Practical results obtained with an experimental system in a test tank are presented and discussed, and a number of areas for further work are identified.