Study on Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Synthetic Aperture Sonar Composite Acoustic Imaging Technique

Abstract

The azimuth resolution of imaging sonar lies on the aperture of the sensor array. In the paper, the Multiple-input Multiple-output Synthetic Aperture Sonar (MIMO-SAS) composite acoustic imaging technique was applied to imaging sonar equipped on the movable platform. The azimuth resolutions of both cross-track direction and along-track direction were obtained. The simulation results demonstrate that comparing with the conventional imaging technique Single-Input Multiple-output (SIMO), the azimuth resolution of cross-track direction is improved since the virtual array aperture of MIMO technique, and the azimuth resolution of along-track direction is obtained since the synthetic aperture of SAS technique. The simulation results are consistent with the theoretic value of the azimuth resolution.