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Acoustic beam profile-based rapid underwater object detection for an imaging sonar

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Abstract

In sonar applications, the ability to locate underwater structures such as pipelines and a wreckage of submerged airplane is important. To investigate extensive sections of the seabed within a limited time period, the scanning speed and the reliability of object detection alarms are the most critical factors for finding objects. In this paper, we propose a method to provide an automatic detection alarm indicating the presence of suspected underwater objects using high-speed imaging sonar. The proposed method is based on the cross-correlations between two successive acoustic beam profiles of imaging sonar. The alarm signal alerts human operators or automatic underwater vehicles to suspected objects, which may be a part of or all of the target object. Using this signal as a trigger, the object can then be examined in more detail to determine whether it is the target. We verified the feasibility of the proposed method by indoor and field experiments.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Korea, under the IT Consilience Creative Program (NIPA-2014-H0201-14-1001), supervised by the NIPA National IT Industry Promotion Agency. This work was partly supported by the Civil Military Technology Cooperation Center. This research was a part of the project titled “Gyeongbuk Sea Grant Program”, funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Future IT Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784, South Korea

    Hyeonwoo Cho

  2. Department of Creative IT Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784, South Korea

    Jeonghwe Gu, Hangil Joe & Son-Cheol Yu

  3. Institude of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan

    Akira Asada

Authors
  1. Hyeonwoo Cho
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  2. Jeonghwe Gu
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  3. Hangil Joe
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  4. Akira Asada
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  5. Son-Cheol Yu
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Correspondence to Son-Cheol Yu.

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Cho, H., Gu, J., Joe, H. et al. Acoustic beam profile-based rapid underwater object detection for an imaging sonar. J Mar Sci Technol 20, 180–197 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00773-014-0294-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00773-014-0294-x

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