APPLICATION OF IMAGE ENHANCEMENT ALGORITHMS AND TECHNIQUES TO MINEHUNTING SONAR

THERE HAVE BEEN MAJOR ADVANCES IN DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, FROM BOTHTHE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE STANDPOINT, THAT ALLOW FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOPHISTICATED ALGORITHMS IN SMALL PACKAGES TO DO IMAGE ENHANCEMENT. THE MCM COMMUNITY HAS NOT MADE FULL USE OF THE DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING TOOLS THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FOR IMAGE ENHANCEMENTAND ANALYSIS, PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO MINEHUNTING SONAR IMAGES THAT ARE DISPLAYED TO THE OPERATOR. IT IS EXPECTED THAT MUCH COULD BEDONE TO INCREASE DISPLAYED IMAGE RESOLUTION, ENHANCE THE VISUAL DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN TARGET AND BACKGROUND, ENHANCE THE SHAPE OF THE TARGET FOR IMAGE FORMATION AND OPERATOR CLASSIFICATION OF THE TARGET. PSI WILL DETERMINE, FROM A THOROUGH INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEW OF AVAILABE DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESING AND IMAGE ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUE, THOSE THAT ARE IDEALLY SUITED FOR USE ON EXISTING AND FUTURE MINEHUNTING SONAR SYSTEMS. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION WILL BE PREPARED FROM THE CANDIDATE TECHNIQUES FOR A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM.