We have recently introduced a novel approach to sonarbased object recognition for robotics. The sonar recognition system—consisting of a Polaroid sonar coupled with an A/D data acquisition board in a LINUX-based PC— uses a fuzzy ARTMAP neural network classification system to recognize objects at varying distances. In this article we report additional results in which we test systematically reco...

This paper investigates the problem of concurrent mapping and localization (CML) using forward look sonar data. Results are presented from processing of an oceanic data set from an 87 kHz US Navy forward look imaging sonar using the stochastic mapping method for CML. The goal is to detect objects on the seabed, map their locations, and concurrently compute an improved trajectory for the vehicle...

Opportunistic observations of behavioral responses by delphinids to incidental mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar were recorded in the Southern California Bight from 2004 through 2008 using visual focal follows, static hydrophones, and autonomous recorders. Sound pressure levels were calculated between 2 and 8 kHz. Surface behavioral responses were observed in 26 groups from at least three specie...

In this paper, we are interested in inferring the sources of various types of sonar features typically observed by a mobile robot. After a brief discussion of terrestrial sonar sensing, we develop a set of operators that associates arc-shaped features extracted from sonar scans with real world primitives. Our classiication scheme is probabilistic and is based on empirical data: the con-dence of...

This paper describes a geometric approach to underwater environmental modeling using sonar. We classify and localize geometric features of man-made objects by combining the boundary constraints of sonar returns obtained from multiple vantage points. The approach builds on our previous use of Reid's multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) algorithm in order to resolve data association and motion corr...

This paper proposes the underwater terrain map building method based on the occupancy grids by using 3D point cloud from the polar sonar sensor system. Because it is expensive to use current 3D underwater sonar sensors, the low-cost 3D sensor systems are needed for the generalized purposes. So the polar-styled sonar sensor system was designed and implemented. It was constructed on the rotating ...

The paper discusses the use of dual stave forward-looking sonar to build a threedimensional underwater model for navigation in restricted waterways. The sonar normally provides separate horizontal and vertical images but when the information is synthesized into a single three-dimensional model it permits, in certain circumstances, the AUV to plan and carry out a trajectory where no path is othe...

Progress in the implementation of state-of-the-art signal processing schemes in sonar systems has been limited mainly by the moderate advancements made in sonar computing architectures and the lack of operational evaluation of the advanced processing schemes. Until recently, sonar computing architectures allowed only fast-Fourier-transform (FFT), vector-based processing schemes because of their...

The advances in robotics and imaging technologies have brought various imaging devices to the field of the unmanned exploration of new environments. Forward looking sonar is one of the newly emerging imaging methods employed in the exploration of underwater environments. While the video sequences produced by forward looking sonar systems are characterized by low signal-to-noise ratio, low resol...