Feature extraction from a sonar imaging system for underwater vehicle navigation

Abstract

This project "Feature extraction from a Sonar Imaging System for Underwater Vehicle Navigation" aims at extracting the features underwater from a very hostile environment and locate the regions of interest. This project has achieved the localization of an Underwater Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) in underwater environment. A Forward Looking Sonar is being mounted at the bottom of the UAV along with the camera which is the vision sensor. The sonar collects the data under the water and later the sonar image is being plotted. Once the terrain or the feature map has been formed, the image is made use and various feature extracting techniques is applied to feature map. This map would therefore clearly identify the location of possible targets that can be used for localization and navigation.