Real-time synthetic aperture sonar processing system

A real-time, shipborne synthetic aperture sonar processing system is presented. The system is based on an array of 49 transputers and is capable of synthetic-aperture processing and displaying a seabed swath of up to 700 m in real time. The limitations and advantages of synthetic aperture sonar imaging and bathymetry processing using correlation techniques are discussed. The results of trials carried out in the Mediterranean Sea are presented. They show that the application of synthetic aperture processing to sonar systems is viable, providing good quality images of the seabed with a constant, high level of resolution in azimuth across the whole swath