Detection and localization of underwater mines remains a challenging
and important problem for safe operation of naval platforms. A number of
new technologies exploit airborne LIDARs, which can penetrate the air-water
interface and optically detect and localize underwater mines. Such
systems process the received optical field generated by scattering within
the water column, and have proven to be an effective technology for mine
detection and localization. In this work, we consider the use of
multiple looks at a single target to form a three-dimensional representation
of the scatterers within the water column. To form such images, we
account for the integration within the receive sensors, and formulate the
problem in a tomographic framework. We will present preliminary image
formation results generated from data collected at sea with a state-of-the-art
Navy mine imaging system.
Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Salt Lake City, UT, May 7-11, 2001.