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The angular response (AR) effect which reduces multibeam backscatter image quality significantly cannot be removed by the traditional AR correction methods effectively. Therefore, the paper puts forward two self-adaptive AR correction methods, namely the AR modeling method and the AR clustering method. The former uses the AR parameters of the average AR curve for modeling and correction, while the latter uses the AR curve of each seabed sediment for AR correction. Both methods overcome the defects of the traditional methods, and improve the image quality obviously. The validities of the methods have been verified by the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fulfill side scan sonar (SSS) image segmentation accurately and efficiently, a novel segmentation algorithm based on neutrosophic set (NS) and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the neutrosophic subset images are obtained by transforming the input image into the NS domain. Then, a co-occurrence matrix is accurately constructed based on these subset images, and the entropy of the gray level image is described to serve as the fitness function of the QPSO algorithm. Moreover, the optimal two-dimensional segmentation threshold vector is quickly obtained by QPSO. Finally, the contours of the interested target are segmented with the threshold vector and extracted by the mathematic morphology operation. To further improve the segmentation efficiency, the single threshold segmentation, an alternative algorithm, is recommended for the shadow segmentation by considering the gray level characteristics of the shadow. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm are assessed with experiments of SSS image segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To decrease the time consumption and the labor intensity in the absolute datum transfer of traditional seafloor control network measurement, a new method, namely sailing-circle positioning method, is put forward in this paper. First, the traditional intersection positioning model is improved by considering the equivalent sound velocity profile error as an unknown parameter in the adjustment model. Second, the effect of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) on positioning accuracy is analyzed. By seeking for the minimum of GDOP, it is concluded that the absolute datum transfer can achieve the highest accuracy in the condition of sailing along a circle relative to other sailing paths. Moreover, the optimal radius of the circle for the accurate datum transfer is also given out. Besides, the correlation between the accuracy of datum transfer and the sound velocity error in this method is analyzed. Finally, the new method was tested and verified by the experiments in Songhua lake with the water depth of 60 m and in South China sea with the water depth of 2000 m, respectively. These experiment results show that the new method can improve the accuracy and efficiency of traditional datum transfer method significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multibeam bathymetric system (MBS) has been widely applied in the marine surveying for providing high-resolution seabed topography. However, some factors degrade the precision of bathymetry, including the sound velocity, the vessel attitude, the misalignment angle of the transducer and so on. Although these factors have been corrected strictly in bathymetric data processing, the final bathymetric result is still affected by their residual errors. In deep water, the result usually cannot meet the requirements of high-precision seabed topography. The combined effect of these residual errors is systematic, and it's difficult to separate and weaken the effect using traditional single-error correction methods. Therefore, the paper puts forward a new method for weakening the effect of residual errors based on the frequency-spectrum characteristics of seabed topography and multibeam bathymetric data. Four steps, namely the separation of the low-frequency and the high-frequency part of bathymetric data, the reconstruction of the trend of actual seabed topography, the merging of the actual trend and the extracted microtopography, and the accuracy evaluation, are involved in the method. Experiment results prove that the proposed method could weaken the combined effect of residual errors on multibeam bathymetric data and efficiently improve the accuracy of the final post-processing results. We suggest that the method should be widely applied to MBS data processing in deep water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea bottom line is the echo boundary between the water column and seabed on side-scan sonar waterfall image. Tracking it correctly is the basis for geometric and radiative correction of side-scan sonar image. Because of the interfering echoes under complex water environment, the sea bottom line cannot be tracked through traditional threshold and smoothing algorithms. Therefore, a new method, taking full advantage of the spatial distribution characteristics of the sea bottom line, is proposed, in which points density clustering and chains seeking are the two core processes. The former clustering process can be regarded as a filter to cluster points along a direction that is approximately parallel to the track line,and the points are grouped to chains if they are density reachable in a searching neighborhood. Then, by adopting the five principles and tracking strategy given in this paper, the chains relevant to the sea bottom line are sought and identified to finish the tracking work. The test results show that the proposed method performs well even in a complex water environment and has better stability and anti-interference ability compared with traditional tracking methods. This research improves the side-scan sonar data processing, and makes it more accurate, automatic and intelligent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]