Onboard real-time SAS processing — Sea trials and results

Interferometric SAS systems are rapidly becoming a commercially available viable alternative to traditional sidescan and multibeam systems for the commercial survey market. The high resolution, and high bandwidth data generated from InSAS systems has created several new challenges when compared to the traditional processing workflow of sidescan or multibeam sonar systems. The significant computational requirements for processing SAS data has created a requirement for onboard, in-situ, realtime SAS beamforming, as well as novel data management solutions and more compact, power and size efficient InSAS systems. This paper will present a number of new technologies and methodologies developed to address these new challenges, and provide an update on recent sea trials using these technologies.