Side Scan Sonar Modeling for Maritime Robotic Operations

One of the key aspects in designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) simulation framework is sensor modeling. This paper presents specifically the underwater sonar sensor modeling structure used in the proposed AUV simulation framework. This sensor model covers the mathematical aspects from the field of acoustics which mimics real world sensors. Simplified sonar signal models are widely used however rarely discussed in the literature. Based on this designed simulation framework, simple scenario using different sonar configuration is shown and discussed. This paper shows the formulation of a typical side-scan sonar with emphasis on the assumptions which leads to the simplification of the sonar model. The sonar sensor model is built based on a developed AUV test-bed which was done previously in the University of Adelaide.