Development of an Automated Roughness Estimation Algorithm for Sidescan Imagery

Estimations of seafloor clutter (also called mine-like echoes) and roughness (bottom relief) are needed during mine warfare operations to determine seafloor type for a geographic region of interest. Analysts at the Naval Oceanographic Office estimate bottom clutter and roughness from sidescan sonar imagery (SSI). However, detecting clutter and determining roughness manually is often time consuming and can produce inconsistent results. The Naval Research Laboratory has developed an algorithm to automatically derive seafloor roughness from SSI. In repeated trials, results of the automated roughness algorithm correlated well (as high as 87%) with manual roughness estimations.