Digitising of side-scan sonar signals

Abstract A criterion for judging the adequacy of the digitisation rate of side-scanning sonar records has been established by inspection of the two-dimensional Fourier power spectrum of areas of record. The lowest digitising rate necessary to retain the information content in the signal is an important parameter in the efficient and economical computer storage and processing of records. The results from some typical sonar records are shown to illustrate the digitising rate criterion.