Area Coverage Rate of Synthetic Aperture Sonars

This article presents the formulae and some "rules of thumb" for computing basic performance parameters of synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) systems, with references to relevant literature. Comparisons with traditional side scan sonar (SSS) are given where appropriate. The article then discusses SAS survey patterns and area coverage rate, and presents arguments for and against the addition of a gap filler sensor. Emphasis is placed on multi-element, high-resolution SAS for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), but the principles are in general transferable to other sensors and platforms.