An experimental study on synthetic aperture sonar for perturbed array

Abstract

Synthetic Aperture Sonar is a technique of extending physically limited length of an array through signal processing. SAS method is often used to enhance bearing resolution of a system. Previous techniques assume most of array shapes as linear, so when towed array shapes are distorted, this can create a deviation from actual situation. In this paper, we estimated perturbed array shapes, and compensated distortion of array by using shape information, and then conducted synthetic aperture array method in aperture domain. As experimental data, we used data obtained from linear towed array in neighboring waters of the Korean peninsula. We extended array by compensating differences in time and spatial position between overlapping subarrays by using synthetic aperture array method. In simulation results, we confirmed that the bearing resolution was enhanced