Sidescan sonar imagery processing software for underwater research

Detailed submarine digital analysis of side scan sonar images significantly enhances the ability to assess seafloor features and artifacts digital images. These images are usually poor in their resolution if they are compared with optical images. There are commercial solutions that could solve this trouble, such as: the use of high resolution multibeam sidescan sonar, or the use of bathymetric sonar. Present work shows an economical solution to avoid this kind of problem by using digital image processing techniques under MATLAB environment. The application presented here is easy to use and has been developed under user friendly philosophy and could be operated for users at any level. Two types of sonar surveys, seafloor mapping and submerged target searches (buried or not), each require different processing methods for data analysis. Results are comparable in quality with commercial hardware solutions. Present work is the first step of a new general purpose tool that will be used in submerged objects recognition.