Underwater Target Detection from Multi-Platform Sonar Imagery Using Multi-Channel Coherence Analysis

This paper introduces a new target detection method for multiple disparate sonar platforms. The detection method is based upon multi-channel coherence analysis (MCA) framework which allows one to optimally decompose the multi-channel data to analyze their linear dependence or coherence. This decomposition then allows one to extract MCA features which can be used to discriminate between two hypotheses, one corresponding to the presence of a target and one without, through the use of the log-likelihood ratio. Test results of the proposed detection system were applied to a data set of underwater side-scan sonar imagery provided by the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Panama City. This database contains data from 4 disparate sonar systems, namely one high frequency (HP) sonar and three broadband (BB) sonars coregistered over the same area on the sea floor. Test results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed multi-platform detection system in terms of probability of detection, false alarm rate, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.