2023_programme: Performance analysis of adaptive beamformers in surveying pipelines by multi-beam echo sounders
- Session: 24. Sonar Technology
Organiser(s): -
- Lecture: Performance analysis of adaptive beamformers in surveying pipelines by multi-beam echo sounders
Paper ID: 2012
Author(s): N/A
Presenter: Gereb Gabor
Abstract: Underwater surveying is essential for pipeline maintenance and it requires significant human and material resources. The detection of damage and risks, such as deformation or free-span, requires high-resolution optical or acoustic images. This can be achieved by logistically costly measures, such as using a remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicle, or by lowering the speed of a surveying vessel to increase the number of snapshots. However, increasing the performance of multi-beam echo sounders in pipeline inspection would be more desirable, as it would enable a more efficient surveying operation. \nAdaptive beamformers can extend the usability of sonar systems beyond their traditional limits. This improvement is achieved by utilizing information in the channel data more efficiently than the conventional delay and sum beamformer in the context of the prior knowledge specific to the detection/estimation problem. Recent work shows that adaptive beamformers can effectively improve the edge definition provided by multi-beam systems. However, experiments on simulated and recorded signals show that the performance of adaptive beamformers is more sensitive to the properties of the imaged scene and the array calibration errors than of the conventional beamformers.\nIn this study we demonstrate how available adaptive beamforming techniques can improve the imaging of deep-sea pipelines by multi-beam echo sounder, and how this improvement depends on the circumstances of the survey. We use channel data recorded by a Kongsberg Maritime EM2040 system, and a dataset simulated using the Field-II ultrasound simulation program. We perform beamforming using a large variety of beamformers implemented in the open-source Ultrasound Toolbox. We measure the imaging performance using the detection theory based Ultrasound Beamformer Benchmarking Toolbox, and analyze the sensitivity to calibration errors using the Beampattern Interval Analysis Toolbox. Finally, we explain the results by applying textbook array signal processing theory to the specific geometrical properties of this case study.
- Corresponding author: Mr Gábor Geréb
Affiliation: Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Country: Norway
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